Insights into a Recovery Community Center Model: Results from Qualitative Interviews with Staff and Member Facilitators from Recovery Cafe in Seattle, Washington

ABSTRACT Many people living with substance use disorder require multiple types of support to reduce use and mitigate harms. Recovery community centers have emerged alongside formal substance use treatment and mutual self-help groups as another option to support peoples’ recovery. Research on the helpfulness of recovery community centers is limited. The purpose of this paper was to describe what Staff and Member Facilitators perceived as helpful components of a recovery community center. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 Staff and six Member Facilitators of a recovery community center, Recovery Café, in Seattle, Washington. Qualitative interviews were analyzed via grounded theory approach. Eleven themes emerged on the helpful components of Recovery Café, including tangible/infrastructure and intangible/experiential strengths. Three themes related to opportunities for program improvement. Many themes on the helpful components were consistent with prior research on recovery community centers and other supports for recovery. Findings provide insight into potential active ingredients and mechanisms of recovery community centers and highlight the potential role of recovery capital. Additional research is needed to test these components to improve the understanding of if and how recovery community centers work to support people with substance use disorders in recovery.