Model and Strategy
The goal of this project is to bring The Phoenix’s sober active community to San Francisco.
Phoenix is a national nonprofit that leverages the intrinsic transformative power of social connection and an active lifestyle to help people recovering from substance use disorder navigate a lifelong path of hope and healing. By combining activities such as group fitness, climbing, yoga and social events with a commitment to high quality programming that is fun, safe, inclusive and accessible, we help participants build the emotional strength they need to sustain sobriety and thrive in long-term recovery.
Since our founding in 2006, we have served over 33,000 individuals across 20 states. We believe that everyone should have access to recovery support and that no one should face recovery alone. Our events are free to anyone with at least 48 hours of continuous sobriety and are led by certified instructors who are in recovery themselves. Phoenix’s distinctive peer-to-peer model aims to both reduce the stigma associated with recovery and provide support to participants by fostering a community environment built on shared experience and deep knowledge of local recovery resources.
Impact
By bringing The Phoenix community to San Francisco, we aim to increase the number of individuals able to sustain long-term substance use disorder recovery. Not only would improving recovery rates in San Francisco help the individuals with substance use disorder, it would positively impact the lives of others in the community by decreasing detox and treatment readmissions, substance use-related emergency room visits, homelessness rates, and drug-related criminal offenses. With fewer individuals using and relapsing, San Francisco neighborhoods would become safer and tax dollars could be appropriated to programs that enhance San Franciscans’ quality of life rather than to those aimed at harm reduction.
When a single person recovers from substance use disorder, there is a positive ripple effect that occurs. That individual can go on to repair relationships with family and friends, use fewer publicly-funded health and welfare services, become less involved with the criminal justice system, find employment, secure permanent housing, contribute to the economy, and ultimately, become an active member of their community.
In 2004, Charles Curie of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration stated, “Rarely do we have public initiatives that can save society as much as substance-abuse treatment and recovery support services [which] provide […] opportunit[ies] for recovery for the individual, better homes for children, and improved safety for our communities.”
Leadership
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Scott Strode
Executive Director
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Jacki Hillios
Deputy Executive Director