Our History

The Vermont Recovery Network DBA Recovery Partners of Vermont is one of the nation’s premier statewide peer-recovery systems.

This system of local community recovery organizations began as a grassroots movement, and through advocacy and promise of its potential, grew into a significant part of Vermont’s continuum of care, the prevention, treatment, and recovery partnerships that offer support and solutions to its population struggling with a substance use disorder. Recovery organizations were funded to help people find recovery, maintain and grow their recovery, prevent relapse, and, return to recovery when relapse happened. These local, consumer-driven, nonresidential facilities would provide peer supports, sober recreation activities, volunteer opportunities, and community education. They would help people of all ages, genders, and cultures maintain alcohol-free and drug-free lifestyles and improve their quality of life.

Vermonters could visit these member organizations to find a sympathetic ear and information about recovery and substance use disorder services in a safe, drug-free and alcohol-free environment. Recovery organizations would welcome anyone, no matter what recovery lifestyle they chose—12 step, abstinence based; faith based; medication-assisted or other harm reduction recovery; moderation management; and various alternative supports. The peer workers simply supported whatever approach was proving successful for their guest, or accompanied the guest on a journey that would help them find a suitable path for their values and chosen lifestyle. Member organization services would be nonclinical and included connections to employment, housing, and social services.

The Vermont legislature began providing state funding in 2001 for the development of community-based nonprofit recovery member organizations, replicating the success of the original recovery organization in White River Junction and the advocacy of its director, Mark Helijas. The legislature asked member organizations to develop boards having a majority of members who self-identified as people in recovery. Recovery organizations would collect outcome data, while maintaining personal anonymity for member organization guests. Member organizations began tracking numbers of visits and numbers of recovery meetings held, and distributing participant surveys.

In 2006, representatives from the seven existing recovery organizations approached the legislature requesting help with the development of recovery organizations, boards, and recovery-support approaches. The legislature created and funded the Vermont Recovery Network, stipulating a representative executive council and the hiring of a network coordinator to coordinate between member organizations and the state. The new network chose Mark Ames as coordinator and Vermont Recovery Network (VRN) as the organization’s name. They defined the nonprofit’s purpose: “The Vermont Recovery Network is dedicated to supporting and connecting efforts that provide recovery support services.”

In 2012, the VRN responded to a legislative request to develop program standards; the member organizations collaborated to develop these standards, which led to increased based funding based on the promising practices the member organizations provided. Today, the Vermont has 12 peer-run recovery organizations, 9 of which are currently part of the VRN with the three additional member organizations offering peer-based recovery services and supports independently. Consistency of service and collaboration continue among the 12 member organizations through ongoing affiliate meetings including the state and key partners.

The network founders wanted recovery organizations to foster the selfless acts of service those in recovery traditionally have offered to people considering the life changes known as recovery. People who have evolved to become positive, less self-absorbed, optimistic, and realistic about the degradation they experienced before finding recovery feel an obligation to share these gifts with others seeking recovery. The evolving network strives to maintain the magic and effectiveness of the recovery process that the 12-step recovery experience offers, capturing the essence of that recovery experience and making it attractive to people on all paths to recovery. Recovery values developed over the last 85 years, such as attraction, inclusion, anonymity, equality, and “keeping it simple,” have informed this work.

Sharing approaches for providing services, managing volunteer workforces, and providing volunteers with training led to the development of consensus on using a recovery-support approach based on listening, considering a person’s willingness to change, and asking motivating questions. Recovery values avoid telling anyone what to do and avoid any power differential between the persons providing and receiving recovery support. This process was accompanied by a growing commitment to providing uniform statewide services, so that what one experienced in one member organization would be consistent with what happened in another member organization. The advent of “recovery coaching” trainings, which were based on the same principles, led the Network to develop formal protocols for the provision of recovery coaching in recovery member organizations.

On July 1, 2021, the Vermont Recovery Network, made up of Vermont’s Recovery Organizations was faced with a huge challenge. The Executive Director left her position and the state decided to pull all funds from the organization. What was going to happen? A new Executive Director was hired to either help close the organization or determine what were its next steps. After speaking with many of the Executive Directors of the Recovery Organizations, it was clear they wanted an organization to represent their interests moving forward. Thus became the birth of the Recovery Partners of Vermont. The new name of the organization and so much more, unfolded over the next 5 months. The direction of the Recovery Partners of Vermont quickly emerged. The leadership of the member Recovery Organizations, nine in total, came up with specific tasks for the staff of the Recovery Partners of Vermont.

    • Advocacy at all levels from raising public awareness, representing the needs and interests of the Recovery Member Organizations with government agencies (state and federal).
    • Fundraising for members
    • A Clearinghouse of Information for members
    • Developing and delivering a technical assistance plan for each member Recovery Organization
    • Creating a library of information around Recovery Organization policies, job descriptions, handbooks, procedures etc.
    • Initiating a yearly-peer driven standards audit for member Recovery Organizations
    • Having a team of consultants available to all member recovery organizations that can resolve various issues from Human Resources, Data, leadership/management, benefit packages and ethics/boundaries and beyond

Next step was securing funding this new direction. Following a model that the Community Mental Health Agencies use (Designated Agencies) with their umbrella agency, Vermont Care Partners, it was agreed that each member recovery center would pay for 50% of the operating costs of the Recovery Partners of Vermont and that the Recovery Partners of Vermont would raise the matching amount. Also, those member Recovery Organizations would hold a seat on the board of directors of the Recovery Partners of Vermont. There also would be 6 at-large members.

All of this was voted by the Board of Directors at their December 2021 meeting and became reality on January 1, 2022.

Today there are 14 member organizations throughout the state of Vermont.

 

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