Recovery Community Organizations, or RCOs, are independent, nonprofit organizations led and governed by people in recovery from substance use disorder. To be certified by MARCO, an RCO must demonstrate competency in eleven evaluation areas based on national standards and state statutes. Over the next few months, we’ll showcase some of the first RCOs to receive MARCO certification, delving into their stories, successes, and how they connect to MARCO’s mission: educate, advocate, and mobilize the grassroots recovery movement across Minnesota.
This month we sat down with the founder Thrive! Family Recovery Resources, Pam Lanhart, and asked her to talk about how she got involved in the grassroots recovery movement.
MARCO: How did you first step into your role in recovery? Can you share your story?
Pam: In 2013 my son, just 15 went to treatment for the first time. Even then I wondered why it took my son getting into treatment for us, as a family, to get evidence-based education and information. Fast forward to 2016, I was introduced to the Peer Recovery Specialist training. At that moment I knew we needed a recovery community organization for families that was person-centered and supported the family as the primary support in someone’s recovery, rather than labeling and shaming them for loving their person. That was the work I had done in my own family and it is the work of Thrive to this day.
MARCO: Do you have any advice or tips to someone who is just starting their grassroots efforts in the recovery community?
Pam: I had a couple of people in my life that simply said “yes, you can totally do that.” They were supportive and positive. Find people that will mentor you, support you, and invest in you. It took 6 years of hard work with no pay for us to get to the point where we could even apply for a grant. So it’s critical that you have that expectation. You may have to work really hard and hold a job to pay the bills, while you are building your organization. The ones that succeed are the ones that stayed the course over the long-haul.
MARCO: What is the most rewarding part of working in recovery for you?
Pam: Seeing people’s lives and their family radically change. Because we work with the entire family system, we see the care-givers start to change first and then it ripples to the individual with substance use. 50% of our families reported their loved one’s moved towards recovery last year. That is significant. Each of those numbers is a potential life saved. And seeing families communicating differently, each member doing the hard work of recovery and then seeing that lead to restoration is incredibly humbling.
MARCO: How do you see RCOs best collaborating to build an ecosystem of recovery?
Pam: Generally each RCO is unique. Most have a specific focus, whether it’s serving specific ethnic or cultural populations, serving rural communities or working with youth, we must recognize that we can’t be all things to all people and collaborating with other RCO’s allows us to serve more people, much more effectively.
MARCO: What have been some of your greatest tools in sustaining your recovery?
Pam: I consider myself a family member in recovery from the effects of addiction. For me, the practices are the same. I use the model of the 4 pillars of recovery in my own personal recovery. I am lucky enough to have stable housing and I’ve worked on making my home safe. I take care of my mental health, still meeting with a therapist regularly. I have done a deep dive into emotionally healthy relationships. I have very specific routines that create a sense of predictability and security in my world. I have a community that is supportive and holds me accountable and of course, I have a mission and purpose. The past 3 years have been the most difficult years of my life. 2024 was one of the most difficult. And my recovery has kept me grounded and brought me a sense of well-being, even in the midst of hard stuff.
MARCO: Could you tell us more about a service area(s) your organization specializes in? How and/or why did your organization develop this specialization? What is something you are doing that you are most proud of?
Pam: Thrive is a family centric recovery community organization. We start with the family members of the loved one’s experiencing substance use. That would be the primary care-givers or partners. We provide one-on-one family peer services to anyone that has a loved one using substances or in recovery. We run 23 support groups each week, many virtually and quite a few in-person in the metro area. We provide psycho-social educational workshops to equip family members and allies how to interact more effectively with someone using substances, and we help dozens of individuals each month navigate the systems of care in MN as their loved one moves towards treatment and recovery.
MARCO: What does “building a recovery-oriented future” mean to you?
Pam: It means 2 things to me. That every person in our state and country would understand what recovery means, and that they would understand that recovery begins with themselves. We must stop living in silos and thinking that if our loved one gets well, it will solve all of our family issues. We have to take personal responsibility for our own health and well-being. It starts with us and then we can reflect recovery to the world around us.