Recovery Cafe San Jose

Gifts are wrapped, meals are delivered, gratitudes are exchanged and the Holiday spirit is plentiful. While this Holiday season has been very different, we are so grateful for the continued support from our community. Happy Holidays from our Cafe family to yours. #holiday #cheers #recovery #cafe #community #local #nonprofit #siliconvalley #sanjose #bayarea #support

Each Day a Miracle. Today was special..it has been so many months of physical separation but through deliveries and over Zoom the RCSJ community came together today to celebrate the hope of light offered by the Winter holidays. Thank you to Cisco and its employees for providing gifts for our members. Thanks too to the volunteers and staff who made it a successful celebration.

Diana Wildflower - member, peer facilitator, ‘Feelings Check-In’ instructor, Apache tribe member and our newest Board Member - recorded a smudging session for our upcoming Holiday Get Together. Thank you for coming in to purify our souls and invite positive energy into the Holiday Season. #seatatthetable #representationmatters #recovery #cafe #sage #smudge #native #nativeland #bayarea #sanjose #siliconvalley #nonprofit #gratitude #givethanks #holiday

So proud to be part of a growing network of Cafes tackling the challenges of addiction, homelessness and mental health challenges. Welcome these five new, emerging Cafes around the country!

Thank you to Cisco for their generous monetary donation to our Christmas gift drive. With their donation, we were able to order shoes and jackets that our members specifically requested. These shoes are sometimes the only pair they will have for the next 12 months, so we’re grateful we can give them what they need. Please consider donating to Recovery Cafe - San Jose during our Winter Fundraising Campaign. Any donations - big or small - will be matched up to $30,000! Donate a...t recoverycafesj.org Now on to gift wrapping . #recovery #cafe #nonprofit #fundraiser #bayarea #siliconvalley #sanjose #gratitude #giveback #support #local #merrychristmas #christmas #holiday #joy

Pre-recording performances for our Zoom Holiday Party. Our members are so talented and we’re grateful that they share them with others. Gabe will be debuting his new song that he wrote and produced - so excited! Picture taken in our newly renovated Fireside Room. #candleseason #holiday #zoomparty #recovery #cafe #music #musician #guitar #bayarea #siliconvalley #sanjose #nonprofit

As we wrap up Recovery Awareness Month, we asked a handful of our members what they find hope in during these times. Answers included 'finding housing, humanity, gratitude lists, and kindness.' What do YOU find hope in? Keep recovery happening because it's worth it! #RisforRecovery #Recovery #Cafe

We are inspired by our members on a daily basis. They are our beacon of hope and proof to our community that recovery is possible and that recovery happens on a daily basis. Brenda - even through alcohol addiction, domestic violence and homelessness - has been sober for 2.5 years and is going to school to become a Drug and Alcohol Counselor! Read her story below and make recovery happen. Alcohol was not a part of my upbringing. Neither of my parents drank, however alcohol r...an in the family. My Grandfather was a raging alcoholic who eventually committed suicide. I never met him. I began drinking socially around the age of 28 and became an alcoholic drinker by the age of 30. My demise was a slow one over the years. I worked in the Biotech Pharmaceutical world for over 20 years and was very successful in my profession. However as the years progressed so did my drinking. Then came divorce, 2 DUIs, unemployment, numerous hospitalizations, suicidal attempts, jail stays, getting beaten almost to death, rape, homelessness and all the bad things that can happen to a woman alone and homeless. At my lowest point, God brought people and resources into my life that began to slowly pull me out of the awful, dark place my addiction had led me to with no hope in sight. I went to a Crisis Rehabilitation Center, then to a Residential program, then to a sober living environment. I continued on my journey of recovery by going to aftercare programs, AA meetings, and was introduced to Recovery Cafe. Recovery Cafe was instrumental in helping me maintain my sobriety. When I go to the Cafe, I am warmly welcomed. I feel connected. I feel safe and supported. I feel loved. I was part of a Recovery Circle that met every week in which the group had real and genuine discussions - sharing our struggles and issues as well as our triumphs and achievements. I am happy to say that I am now 2.5 years sober and going to school to become a Drug and Alcohol Counselor. I never imagined I could ever stop drinking and that my life would mean something. I am so blessed for having people and places like Recovery Cafe to help me on my Journey of Recovery. #Recovery #RisforRecovery

Day 24 of Recovery Awareness Month's 30-Day Challenge: List 5 things you like about yourself. It's so easy to be hard on ourselves, yet so challenging to praise our positive attributes. Tanya - our Cafe Manager - lists her top 5 qualities she admires about herself. What are your top 5? List them below or say them to yourself to get the day started! #RisforRecovery #Recovery #RecoveryAwarenessMonth #Cafe

Know a person who may be struggling on their path to recovery, especially during these challenging times? Reach out to them and remind them they are not alone and recovery is possible! Jan - a Cafe volunteer - shares her experience with her son's addiction and successful journey to recovery. "Looking at my son today, you would never guess that he suffered with the terrible disease of addiction for half his life, which ultimately led him to be homeless. He lived on the streets... of Portland for almost two years before getting clean. He started using drugs while still in high school. When I eventually found out, I thought it was perhaps a phase he was going through, as I had experimented with drugs myself when I was young. Fast forward through many years of pain and heartache, and today my son is a thriving member of society, working as a Program Manager at a recovery center and is involved in the Oxford House Network of sober living homes in Portland. He has been clean and sober for over three years now and I am so proud of the man he has become. Our relationship has blossomed and we have become much closer. For families who might be seeking support for a loved one's addiction, I would first and foremost say that it is not your fault - we didn't cause it, we can't control it and we can't cure it. These are my son's words: 'The person struggling can only find recovery on their own despite the consequences of their actions and decisions." If Lane had been ready to take the first step towards recovery while he was living in San Jose, Recovery Café would have been a wonderful supportive community for him. I enjoy volunteering at the Café, talking with members and trying to impart what I have learned - that with hard work and dedication, recovery is possible!" #RisforRecovery #Recovery #Cafe

Approximately 8.5 million adults aged 18 or older had both a mental and substance use disorder in 2017. With millions of Americans experiencing mental and substance use disorders, all components of the healthcare community must work collaboratively towards recovery. Christine, a former nurse at Stanford Hospital and current Recovery Circle facilitator, shares her experience with dual-diagnosis and how we should assist people experiencing mental and substance use disorders. ...I started my career in nursing at Stanford Hospital working in the surgical trauma ICU. Our patients were very critical and often not expected to live. I became aware that about of our patients had some type of substance abuse - either because they would go into withdrawals after surgery or because they were in an accident caused by being under the influence. After 10 years, I became a nursing supervisor in the jails. At the jail, I came to understand the complexity of mental illness and how addiction goes hand-in-hand with it. I realized that most of the inmates'' with mental illness were in fact people who suffered from a huge variety of social and economic problems that complicated or exacerbated their mental health - poverty, domestic violence, learning disabilities, having families with addiction or incarceration - all theses factors were wrapped up in each case. We have to approach everyone we meet in life with an open mind. We cannot judge others - we don’t know their story. If we were put in the same situation, we may do the same thing or worse. At Recovery Cafe, we help people grow through the traumas and problems in their lives, and as we do that, we realize that we too are growing. It’s a huge gift and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to be a participant on this journey! #RisforRecovery #Recovery

Today, we support our friends at Recovery Cafe Spokane as they celebrate their 4th Annual "Hands Across the Falls" - a public show of support for those in recovery and those who are still battling addictions, as well as a time to honor those who have been lost to their addictions. #HandsAcrosstheFalls #RecoveryCafe #RisforRecovery #Recovery #Support #Community #Cafe

Day 18 of Recovery Awareness Month's 30-Day Challenge: call a family member. John - our super-talented member, peer facilitator, and musician - shares his poem called "The New Me." It reminds us the importance of keeping in touch with our family and accepting others as they are. When I go to see my brother and I think he's feeling down... I treat him with respect I never go and play no clown I try to be a brother, and give my brother his due I ain't ashamed to say it causeIt's the funky thing to do. When I visit on my sister I don't hand her some sweet line I let her know what's hers is hers and what is mine is mine I try to be upstanding, sensitive and true I ain't ashamed to say it cause it's the funky thing to do. When I go to see my mama I don't give her any sass It's just because I love her not because she'll whip my ---- I try to be a loyal son, not make my mama blue I ain't ashamed to say it cause it's the funky thing to do. Now I've been to see my father's grave, he lived and died for me I always leave a flower, maybe two, maybe three I try to do the best I can, it's me he's living through I owe it to myself cause it's the funky thing to do. Now I'm on my knees and praying, to the one who heeds my call Who knows I only ask Him when my back's against the wall I pray for faith and kindness and to make my life anew. I owe it to myself cause it's the funky thing to do. #Recovery #RisforRecovery

Day 17 of Recovery Awareness Month's 30-Day Challenge: Share a song that inpires you. Melanie Johnson - one of our new Jesuit Volunteers - shares a song that inspires her: Sarah Bareilles' "If I Dare." Her favorite lyric in the song is "If I dare to want this, to want more than I have, Then I dare to believe, I'll have it in the end." Thank you for sharing such a hopeful song! What's YOUR go-to inspirational song? Share with us in the comments below.... #RisforRecovery #Recovery

Day 12 of Recovery Awareness Month's 30-Day Challenge: take 15 minutes out of your day to stretch. Especially during these challenging times, it's important to take time for yourself to stretch and breathe with intention. Join our friend - Taraneh - from Be The Change Yoga & Wellness as she leads us in a yoga session that can even be done right at your seat!... "The most important time in the world is the time you make for yourself." #Recovery #RisforRecovery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BA5YWUFatc&t=3s

Day 11 of Recovery Awareness Month's 30-Day Challenge: share a picture of a person inspires you. Diana - member, peer facilitator, and instructor of "Feelings Check-In" - shares who inspires her. Take some time out of your day to show gratitude to the person who inspires YOU on a regular basis. Share with us in the comments below! #Recovery #RisforRecovery

Day 10 of National Recovery Month: "Share your favorite recovery quote." Instead of a quote, we're sharing one of our favorite poems written by our member, Izzy, titled "Dethroning King Alcohol." She's also celebrating her 11th Sobriety Birthday this month! Congrats Izzy - we're all so proud of you.

Day 9 of Recovery Awareness Month's 30-Day Challenge: draw or color a picture mindfully. There are so many benefits of art. Art stimulates the imagination, boosts self-esteem, provides a sense of accomplishment, and reduces stress - to name a few. Join Frances - our heartwarming volunteer and art instructor - as she teaches us about contour drawing. All you need is a pen/pencil and paper! Share with us what you drew today. ... #Recovery #RisforRecovery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4jfvQdnRms