Canada's first recovery café up and running in Vancouver

A community network for people in recovery is making its first foray into Canada, with Vancouver's Recovery Café opening its doors on the Downtown Eastside on Sept. 12.

The Recovery Café Network was launched in Seattle in 2016 and, according to its website, offers warm, welcoming and healing community spaces with the support of other like-minded organizations.

Damian Murphy is the manager of the new Vancouver location at 620 Clark Drive. He says the local effort is sponsored by the Kettle Society — a non-profit that aims to empower the city's most vulnerable.

"What we're doing here is building a community of support," said Murphy in an interview. 

"Our focus is addiction recovery, but we also recognize that people can be in recovery from other things as well: trauma, mental illness, homelessness, grief and loss."

The café is drug and alcohol-free, and Murphy says a membership doesn't cost anything but comes with the expectation of attending a weekly recovery circle.

Participants meet with the same small group of people on the same day every week, setting short-term goals that the group holds them accountable to.

"It's like a healing circle or a talking circle," said Murphy. "We invite folks to share some of the struggles or challenges that they may be having, but we also want folks to share some of the successes or some of the gratitude."

Community connection

Guy Felicella works with Vancouver Coastal Health as the peer clinical adviser for the British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU). He's been in recovery for almost 10 years.

After living on the streets of the DTES and surviving six overdoses, he's now married, has three children and works as an advocate for mental health support and harm reduction.

"I knew that I was either going to die in my addiction or get out," Felicella told CBC.

Felicella says the outpatient facility that helped him beat his substance use issues connected him with people who were willing to help and offered some of the same supports and social activities as the Recovery Café.

"It's a physical location where people can access services and go to seek support — instead of making a phone call and just going to detox and going to treatment.

"Sometimes the best results happen from a coffee and a sandwich and a conversation."

Felicella says these types of spaces create a comfortable environment that might convince people to seek out additional resources which previously seemed too daunting.

"You start to see the same people coming over and over again. You start to trust. You start to build relationships. I think the most powerful thing about these recovery cafés is what it provides: the human connection."

Positive reception

Murphy says the community response since the café opened in mid-September has been positive. There are four recovery circles running right now, and over 50 people have signed up.

He hopes more members will continue to join and would like to see the café host a couple of recovery circles every day.

The space is open to the public Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and there's an orientation session for new members every Wednesday afternoon. 

As long as they're participating in the weekly meetings, members are also welcome to sign up for other activities organized by the café such as life skills workshops, social outings and recreational programs.

On top of coffee, the café gives out one free meal a day.

Through its connection with the Kettle Society and partnerships with affordable housing group Streetohome Foundation and advocacy organization the 625 Powell Street Foundation, visitors have access to a whole host of resources.

Murphy says he and his two other staff members have "many years experience" working with people in recovery, and all took part in an intensive training course when they joined the Recovery Café Network.

"It's not counselling per se. We're not here to fix people's problems," Murphy said.

"We believe that every person has within themselves the ability to determine what's going to work best for them in their recovery."

He says surveys of people who joined Seattle's recovery café showed the vast majority of members had an increased desire to be in recovery and reduced their instances of relapse.

"If you or anyone you know is struggling with their recovery ... you're welcome to come down," he said.

"You'll find a warm, caring community of support here for you."