It was all smiles for the members at Hope for Holyoke as they hosted the Western Mass Policy Forum on May 24. The only peer recovery center in Holyoke, Hope for Holyoke is one of 10 Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS) funded Centers in the state. The Center is also a member of the SOAR Network. The Forum welcomed three other peer recovery centers in the region in addition to other participants – George B. Crane Memorial Center, Northampton Recovery Center, and BSAS-funded RECOVER Project. You can read more about the Forum below
 
SOAR held a webinar last month titled, “Addiction Recovery and the ADA: Understanding the Rights of the Recovery Community,” as part of its quarterly SOAR Network Webinar Series. Oce Harrison, Project Director for the New England ADA Center, a project of the Institute for Human Centered Design, highlighted how the Americans with Disabilities Act provided protections under the law for those in recovery. The next webinar will take place in October.
 
The one-day invite only SOAR Summit for RCOs returns on August 9 this year at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. Last year, more than 20 RCOs learned about the SOAR Network, were treated to an impassioned keynote by Haner Hernandez, and heard from “guests” of a talk show-inspired panel discussing the impact of RCOs on their lives. Plans are also underway for a SOAR Bootcamp, a one-day intensive training for RCOS, which will also take place in August. Details will be sent to RCOs in the near future.
 
For more information about SOAR, please contact Kirsten Doherty, SOAR coordinator, at 978-888-1927 or kirsten@moar-recovery.org .