Empower Alternative Paths to Sobriety

Addiction is a public health crisis, and people are suffering and dying. It seems as though everyone’s lives have been touched by the pain of addiction. Your donations will go towards providing hope for people in their darkest days. A rising tide lifts all boats, and each person’s healing contributes to the wellness of our society.

Recovery Demystified is a new 501c3 organization based in Northwest Arkansas. Our mission is to empower people to create their own unique paths to addiction recovery by providing free peer counseling, education, books, and support groups. We provide a safe space for folks to explore their relationship to substances alongside science-based education. We believe that each person knows what is best for themselves, and through the process of education and empowerment we can rebuild our lives into places that we no longer need to escape from.

Currently, we have weekly support groups at the Fayetteville Public Library every Monday at 6pm. Our rental fees for the year are approximately $4,200. We choose to rent a room at the library because it is ADA accessible, provides the equipment needed for watching videos and slideshows, and is a safe and welcoming environment for our participants.

Early Brunner also produces a podcast called Recovery Demystified on which they provide education on addiction, and interview every day people in recovery. Seeing representation of folks who have overcome their addictions can be monumental for others who are currently struggling. The podcast provides hope, inspiration, education, and practical tools for people seeking a life beyond addiction. Yearly costs of podcast production are about $1,800. A donation of a high quality microphone and headphones would make it possible to do remote interviews, as folks who are not local would need these items mailed to them.

Recovery Demystified also has a free book project. Knowledge is power, and folks of all income levels deserve access to life saving resources. This is why RD will buy someone any book they choose on addiction recovery, self help, healing, trauma, or anything else aligned with our mission. The fundraising goal for our free book project is $10,000. Donations of used books on any of these subjects would be greatly appreciated, and can be dropped off at our support groups at FPL on Mondays at 6pm.

Early Brunner spends 15-20 hours per week doing all of this work for free, and deserves to be payed for this life saving work that is so needed in our community. If all other fundraising goals for the year are reached, they would love to be paid for their work on this project. In the future they would love to expand the support groups to include treatment centers, homeless shelters, the jail, and more.

Other future goals include hiring Certified Peer Support Specialists to counsel with people struggling in their addiction and recovery, advocacy for decriminalizing drug offenses in favor of using resources for care and rehabilitation, and opening a sober third-space for folks to socialize, support each other, and access resources.

If anyone knows of potential business sponsorships, or is very excited about fundraising, please reach out! Follow us on Instagram @recoverydemystified

Here are some client reviews from our first month of services:

"Recovery Demystified offers access to a growing group of sober curious individuals to 1. see that they're not alone! + 2. support each other while learning something no one ever really gets taught explicitly. As someone seeking + yearning for a third space beyond alcohol, this has been a game changer for Fayetteville community support. Recovery Demystified is judgement free + welcoming. Thanks for doing this/giving me hope for community in Fay." -Anonymous

"LOVED finding a safe community outside of AA! It's been very lovely, esp in Fayetteville to be able to find community of like-minded individuals. Would love to see this continue. I would love more access to a community to talk about current situations that arise in sobriety. Looking for advice or just to talk about it out loud would be so beautiful. Thank you so much for creating this space, looking forward to more!" -Anonymous

"It's been awesome surrounding myself with people who are also wanting to better themselves with sobriety. It's helped me a lot to not feel so alone about my relationship with alcohol even though I'm still trying to figure out what exactly that relationship is. I started this group only because I was doing Dry Jan but it has actually encouraged me to continue my sobriety journey past just this month-and for that, I thank you <3" -Victoria

"I love that there is a non-religious recovery organization geared towards providing resources, support, and education in NWA. Early hosted meetings throughout the month that felt so safe and judgement-free. I would recommend any person that is curious about sobriety or searching for community to get involved with Recovery Demystified. I also love the weekly podcast episodes! If an in-person meeting seems too intimidating, the podcast is a great place to start. Recovery Demystified is going to save lives. I feel honored to be a part of this community." -Alison Fones

"Recovery Demystified has done exactly that for me-made what seemed innocuous and isolating into a communal and collaborative space. I'm excited each week to meet new people who are interested in something that is a huge part of my life and feels like not many people hold close to them in this society. Thank you for creating this safer space for us like-minded folks to be together and learn together." -Anonymous