One-Stop Shopping for Recovery? A Systematic Review of the Evidence on U.S. Recovery Community Centers
Research has shown that the first few years of recovery can be marked by instability and require comprehensive support. As a result, there is a focus on addressing the broader social-ecological determinants of health to support individuals on their recovery journey. By creating an overhaul of the individual’s built and social environments, recovery professionals can create ideal conditions and curate resources to provide healing and foster resilience among the recovery population, supporting both short-term and long-term recovery needs.
Recovery Community Centers (RCCs) provide those resources and support. These include services and resources such as recovery peer social support, recovery coaching, and resources to support employment and educational achievement. RCCs are designed to serve as anchors within the heart of the community, destigmatizing recovery and ensuring the center is fully accessible to everyone. Already, 1.4 million individuals have cited utilizing an RCC to maintain their recovery, according to a national survey.
This systematic review identified and collected peer-reviewed studies to understand the effects of RCC participation and its impacts on the quality, focus, and outcomes associated with an individual’s recovery. Of the 527 articles originally identified, only 7 papers were found to be eligible and were included in this review.
Participation within an RCC has been linked to:
- Higher employment status, with increases ranging from 7% to 22% for those working full-time and rising from 1% to 7% for those working part-time.
- Participants reported a 20% increase in their main source of income, which came from the wages they earned.
- Individuals were seven times more likely to be employed, twice as likely to be enrolled in an educational program, and less likely to have committed a crime within the past 30 days.
- Participants reported significant gains in their housing independence; they were less likely to be living in a recovery house, resulting in a 23% increase in the likelihood of living in a place they owned or rented.
- Additionally, up to 95% of participants had maintained abstinence from alcohol and other substances after being associated with an RCC for six months.
Participants also reported in qualitative studies improved psychological well-being, a higher quality of life, increased self-esteem, and a reduction in psychological distress. They also reported higher levels of abstinence at their 3-month follow-up. They reported that social support infrastructure (such as recovery coaching and support meetings), as well as technological and employment assistance, were the highest-value services for new RCC members.
Key Takeaway: Participation in a Recovery Community Center leads to a more sustained recovery, higher employment rates, reduced criminal behavior, and an overall improvement in the quality of life for individuals in recovery.