What is a Recovery Community Organization?

Making Connections in the Community to Promote Your Facility

Have you ever heard of a Recovery Community Organization? It’s okay – many people in the substance abuse industry haven’t either. In fact, you may already have several such services in your neighborhood and not even realize it.

A Recovery Community Organization, or RCO, is a collaboration or entity within your community that consists of individuals who have participated in treatment, in addition to their family members, and even professional staff involved with recovery.

So what’s the point of these RCOs? Well, they’re actually an extremely powerful connection between the outside community, those in active recovery, and the specialists on your team. They eliminate stigmas and close mile-wide gaps between what would otherwise be strangers in the community. These organizations also act as powerful outreach resources for those who aren’t actively in recovery but may need a helping hand.

This is another specialty area that Ads Up Marketing provides assistance for. If you’re not aware of the specifics of an RCO, you’ve come to the right place. Keep reading to get more details, and see how such community resources can help you promote both your facility and brand image in the community!

What Role Does a Recovery Community Organization Play In the Local Area?

Unfortunately, the importance of Recovery Community Organizations (RCOs) is often overlooked. However, when leveraged in the proper manner, these collectives can be a driving force for success during the rehab process, delivering priceless services and helping to build strong bonds within the community.

As a component of opioid settlements in many states, one of the trends in addiction treatment is the establishment of local resources in communities both large and small.

How is this accomplished?

A recovery community organization (RCO) will typically provide services that include support for struggling addicts, deploy educational material and programs, and even act as sponsors and advocates for those seeking recovery or have just recently graduated from a treatment center.

They’re all about preserving the longevity of sobriety within the community and fostering a long-term collaborative effort between clients, employees of the treatment facility, and “normal” members of society.

How Recovery Community Organizations Support Individuals in Recovery

You’re probably wondering how these coalitions directly impact people who are currently participating in rehab. These programs aren’t just for those looking to enter recovery – they’re just as helpful for the ones who are already there.

As a supplement to aftercare and alumni services, a hangout spot for those in sober living, or just as a place for those seeking long-term recovery to gather, these organizations fill a vital role.

Peer Support and Mentorship

One of the foremost important duties of Recovery Community Organizations is to create support for those in recovery in addition to offering peer support. There’s an acute awareness that those in active recovery or rehab feel isolated.

Having someone to bond with who has experienced similar battles can give them the strength they need to make it to the finish line.

Advocating for Those In Recovery

It’s important that we as prominent members of the substance abuse treatment space continue to destroy the stigma and negativity surrounding our industry. How is this done?

RCOs hit the streets and engage with community members to provide locals with information and education regarding treatment, the process of rehab, and the ethics and morals behind the recovery process. At heart, these efforts are a very ‘street-level’ deployment of human services.

They also help promote and empower those seeking recovery but haven’t been able to find their way. By providing the right education and support regarding the recovery experience, potential clients feel more confident about their ability to become sober.

Benefits of Collaborating with a Recovery Community Organization

So what happens when you create or collaborate with a Recovery Community Organization? There’s a significant amount of positive traction one can gain from promoting or teaming up with an RCO.

• RCOs often have vast networks that travel far and wide within the recovery community. This makes it easy for a facility to get the word out about your location and program, reaching those who otherwise may not have been aware.
• Treatment facilities have access to a critical resource through the involvement of an RCO. Peer-led recovery support is worth its weight in gold in the substance abuse treatment space. Why? It’s a walking and talking testimonial that demonstrates the possibilities of recovery through the right rehab facility – more specifically, your rehab facility.
• Getting the community engaged is another byproduct of working with a Recovery Community Organization. Recovery Community Organizations often sponsor events within the community. This can range from a collection of rehab resources in the form of a community gathering, to a full-on expo or community fundraiser.
• RCOs also help clients fresh out of rehab engage with peer recovery support services as a part of aftercare. All too often clients fall victim to the dangers of relapse because of a lack of aftercare support. RCOs can take charge of these initiatives, ensuring that clients exiting any given facility have access to the strong support pillars they need after graduation.

How Do You Find and Connect With Recovery Community Organizations?

To collaborate with Recovery Community Organizations (unless you develop your own), you first need to identify them. Reach out to peer recovery support service and do your own research.

Browsing on the web goes a long way in finding who is in charge of peer recovery support services, contacting them, and finding out if there’s an RCO that’s backing them.

You can also ask other professional facilities in your area if they work with any, or have any information regarding these organizations. Asking those who have found sustained recovery but are still present in the community of active drug users (such as harm reduction specialists) can be another way of finding the most relevant RCOs in your area.

Developing Trust

After finding RCOs and recovery support services, the next thing that must be done is to initiate an atmosphere of trust. Recovery Community Organizations must be sure that you’re serious about your facility’s role in supporting clients past, present, and future.

It must be apparent that your recovery vision as an organization embodies a willingness to support the change you want to see and take an active role in raising awareness in the local community.

Develop Your Mission Statement

After establishing the relationships and collaborating, it’s time to develop a mission statement and decide on a direction. Work with the recovery support services to identify exactly what way your facility can bring the most impact to the table. Be creative and craft new ways you can make an impact on clients and their families.

You can also leverage the huge assortment of resources available through an RCO. Vast networks bring vast amounts of assistance – these tools can enhance the impact you intend to make as part of your collaboration effort.

For those with active substance use disorders, a recovery community organization is often on the frontline of advocacy efforts and helping those struggling to seek and sustain recovery.

Making the Most of Rehab and RCO Partnerships

Naturally, with any new endeavor and partnership, you’re going to run into roadblocks. Consider the following solutions.

• Don’t allow your facility to be enamored with a clash in organizational structure or hierarchy. Remember, these organizations have come a long way to forge relationships and acquire the resources they have. Sometimes taking a back seat and humbling yourself is the best course of action.
• Sometimes your goals won’t always align perfectly with the goals of the RCO – and that’s okay. Instead of focusing on what doesn’t align, focus on the overlapping areas and build on these strengths.
• Your time during these collaborations must always continue to maintain a certain standard of ethics. Adhere to vital codes of conduct and review these with your team on a regular basis. Be receptive and encourage feedback from those you’re collaborating with.

Treatment Center Promotion Through RCO Partnerships

You can use RCO partnerships as a strong way to promote your facility if done the correct way. Adding your facility among the recovery resources offered, and supporting the organization in whatever ways needed, can be a solid foundational approach.

Focus Marketing Strategies On the Community

Marketing strategies should be developed with a concern for the outlying community. Goals or developing engagement and spreading education should be your main priority, and RCO partnerships can help in this area. You can also use this as a way to morph your brand message and keep it more uniform as time goes on.

Highlight the fact that you’re committed to cleaning up the community via the promotion of recovery. Don’t be afraid to highlight your RCO partnership on your website by design. It’s not a bad idea to even dedicate a page to the impact that’s taken place since your partnership.

Long-Term Partnering

After experiencing success through the RCO partnership you should be driven to maintain these mutually beneficial arrangements. What’s the best way to promote this long-term experience?

• Be open and transparent with one another. Any relationship grows because of healthy communication – the recovery business is no different. Play off each other’s strengths and bounce ideas around. Kick around ideas for funding support to share in common goals.
• Develop benchmarks for success to measure your efforts. If you can’t measure the impact that’s taken place, it’s difficult to justify a long-term relationship. Use KPIs and goals to highlight what you and the RCO have brought to the table for one another.

Ads Up Marketing Can Help Develop RCO Partnerships

At Ads Up Marketing, we can do several important things for your facility. We can help connect you to recovery support services and other prominent members of the recovery community. In addition, if you’re interested in creating your own RCO, and dedicated to providing recovery support services in additional ways, we can help you establish your own version.

The best way to support recovery on a larger scale is to appeal to the recovery community and work together to bring change and awareness. We can help you pool local resources with other substance abuse and mental health services, and find the most legit RCOs throughout local communities.

To find out more, contact us today, and let’s get you on track to hit all of your treatment provider goals with resources that best fit your needs and budget!