Café expands outreach to Latinx group
Recovery Café Longmont has announced it is expanding its outreach to Longmont’s Latinx community about the services provided to people recovering from alcohol and substance abuse or experiencing mental health issues.
While the nonprofit agency has been providing longterm recovery services for more than a year, people using its programs do not yet reflect the 25% Latinx population of Longmont, it said in a news release.
“Studies find Latinx individuals say that lack of access to treatment, lack of insurance, and lack of culturally attuned services are key reasons for not engaging in substance use treatment and recovery programs,” Recovery Café Longmont Executive Director Lisa Searchinger said in the news release.
“We realize that if we truly wish to better engage the Latinx community, it is vital that RCL is seen as a safe, culturally attuned organization with the capability to engage monolingual Spanish speakers,” she said.
The agency said it had recently started the new Latinx program, funded by a $100,000 two-year Colorado Health Foundation grant, with the hiring of the organization’s first bilingual/bicultural peer support specialist, Felicia Perez-wright.
Perez-wright credited her own recovery from substance use and working closely with a court-appointed peer support specialist as motivation for her to do similar work at Recovery Café
Longmont.
“As a bilingual peer support specialist, I hope to be the bridge between the local Latinx community and the resources they may not be aware of or have access to,” Perez-wright said in the news release.
“I want to spread hope and encouragement to my peers through my own lived experiences. And to effectively reach and connect with the Latinx community, I will focus on providing support, understanding and communication in a way that is culturally accommodating.”
The agency said in addition to coming up with the new Latinx outreach program , it has expanded its board of directors to more accurately reflect the diversity of the individuals it serves in the community.
The new board members are Ari Umoja, a school psychologist and a member of the Rocky Mountain Association of Black Psychologists and the Boulder NAACP; Martha Fierro, a bilingual independent living advisor at the Center for People with Disabilities and a member of Boulder County Latino Coalition; and Rourke Weaver, a peer professional and recovery advocate who is executive director of Spero Recovery.
Recovery Café Longmont was created to provide the kind of supportive community that can help people maintain long-term recovery from addiction, mental health challenges, homelessness and trauma, the agency said.
It said that since it opened in May 2019 to address an unmet need for adequate, accessible, long-term recovery services in Boulder County, Recovery Café Longmont has served more than 300 people along their journey toward recovery.
Searchinger said in a Thursday afternoon interview that about 15% of those have been Latinx.
“We believe that greater attention to inclusivity and cultural humility will result in our organization being more effective in our mission to be a community of refuge and healing for people in recovery,” Searchinger said.
“At RCL we believe we are all in recovery from something and being a part of a loving, caring community can help provide the stability needed for the often chaotic recovery journey,” she said.
Recovery Café Longmont’s current hours of operation from its space at Central Presbyterian Church, 402 Kimbark St., are noon to 2:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Saturdays, according to the agency’s website, recoverycafelongmont.org. Starting Oct. 1, it will also be open from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursdays. People can get information about the agency and its programs by calling 720-815-2885.