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Mission and Vision The mission of Recovery Learning Communities (RLCs) is to serve people in recovery from mental health and/or addictions though the use of peers (people with lived experience with mental health and/or addiction treatment). The Metro Boston RLC aims to serve people through the entire Metro Boston area, however it currently operates out of two locations: The Boston Resource Center and the PERC (Peer Education Resource Center). Summary of major foci of activity, leadership and affiliation: Each resource connection center is led by a strong consumer leader backed by a major mental health provider: the Boston Resource Center by Howard D. Trachtman and Boston Medical Center, and the PERC by Sarah Berger. Boston Resource Center: Extensive library of pamphlets, books, audiovisual materials and more. Vibrant drop-in commumity. Computer/internet access and instruction. Various groups: Support group open to all, women's groups, dual recovery group, creative writing group. Development of the use of warmlines and peers in Urgent Care Center (for psychiatric evaluation only with no emergency room involvement). Entreprenurial activities and a gift shop to sell sundries and peer created artwork as a vocational training environment. PERC: specializes and putting peers back to work and features evening and weekend hours. Future plans The RLC plans to serve more people by several means. We aim to use a mixture of paid and stipended staff with a base of volunteeers to form a community which supports itself and others. We give peers hope and train them for paid peer work by allowing them to gain experience providing support and learning group facilitation skills. We also want all people who are helped by the RLC to become ambassadors and let others know about the power of the peer support movement.
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