Community Spotlight: REAL Recovery offers loving support and advocacy in Daviess County

When Shaneah Shartzer shows up for work at REAL Recovery, she sees the Wall of Hope—a wall covered in the colorful handprints of people who have passed through the organization's doors.

"Anyone who comes in that wants to be a positive reflection for somebody else, they put their hands on the wall," Shartzer said. "Our wall is almost full."

Shartzer is the executive director of REAL Recovery Inc., an independent, grassroots, non-profit organization located at 10 W. Van Trees Street in Washington, Indiana. It's a state-certified Recovery Community Organization (RCO) for Daviess County that focuses on empowering, advocating, and supporting people in recovery against economic, cultural, and systemic obstacles. REAL’s vision is to give a voice to people in recovery and help to improve access to housing, employment, and recovery resources.

While many of REAL Recovery's efforts are focused on helping people recover from substance use disorder, it also assists individuals experiencing mental illness, homelessness, domestic violence, mobility impairment, grief, loneliness, and incarceration, among other struggles.

"We're all in recovery from something," Shartzer said, emphasizing the organization's belief that every human being has experienced trauma, crisis, or hardship.

The Origins of REAL Recovery

REAL Recovery was established in February 2020 after a group of 12 people in recovery in Daviess County met and decided to change the narrative around substance use disorder in their community and help people in recovery succeed.

"Their thoughts, hearts, and lived experience really developed this entire thing," Shartzer said.

The person who led that original group of 12 is Shartzer's father, Jimmy Hay. He spent 30 years struggling with substance use disorder before entering recovery and getting involved in the local recovery community. Today, he serves as the president and chairman of the board of REAL Recovery and is approaching ten years in recovery.

His firsthand experience provides valuable insight into the level of empathy and support that people in recovery need to succeed.

"They're not second-class citizens. They're people who need to be loved and cared about," he said. "And if I hadn't got that from my recovery group, from my church, from my family, I would probably still be in active addiction. That's what it took for me to heal, and I want to offer that to other people," Hay said.

Though REAL Recovery's staff is small—there are six paid staff members and a few volunteers—the organization has made tremendous strides since 2020, including gaining 501c3 status, launching the Recovery Café program, and being state-certified as an RCO, which opens the doors to additional funding opportunities and the ability to connect with other RCOs in the state.

Recovery Café Offers Vital Support

In February 2023, REAL Recovery launched the Recovery Café. It's a drug- and alcohol-free space open three days a week for people in recovery to gather, enjoy coffee, and receive peer support. The café provides social activities, recovery circles, meals, peer recovery coaches, and classes on topics like meditation, financial literacy, career fundamentals, and parenting techniques.

There are currently 40 active members of the café who receive regular support.

"The Recovery Cafe is a healing community space," Shartzer said. "It allows members a safe space to have difficult conversations and to start working through any of those challenging areas that they have so that they can grow—so that they feel loved, understood, and supported and valued as a human being."

The Recovery Café is considered an emerging member of the Recovery Café Network, a national collective of 67 cafés that are centered around the Recovery Café Model. The model includes a behavioral health approach called Recovery-Oriented System of Care (ROSC), which aims to help people throughout the ups and downs of the recovery process—not just when they're actively in crisis.

Right now, REAL Recovery is in the process of becoming a full member of the Recovery Café network. Once approved, it will have access to increased support and funding opportunities for the café. REAL Recovery largely relies on grant funding to stay up and running.

Many Programs, Many Paths

The Recovery Café is just one of REAL Recovery's many programs that support and motivate people on their journey to recovery.

It hosts Just as You Are, a 12-step program and social support group for people living in recovery. There's also the Dark to Light Multiple Pathways group, which welcomes anyone who struggles with addiction, is affected by addiction, or has mental health challenges. These meetings are considered "non-denominational," meaning all recovery pathways are embraced. Pathways can include clinical treatment, faith-based approaches, medication, social support, holistic practices, and other recovery methods.

The Hands Up program provides temporary financial assistance to eligible Community Corrections participants who are beginning work release or home detention programs.

"The old saying is, 'It takes a village to raise a child,'" Hay said. "I think it takes a community to heal these people in recovery," Hay said. "We need to embrace them. We need to show them as much love as possible, giving grace and second chances, third chances, fourth chances—not giving up on these individuals."

REAL Recovery also extends support to the broader Daviess County community. Their Helping Hands and Furniture for Families programs distribute free clothing, household items, and furniture to anyone who needs it. The Pete Clymer Youth Boxing Club provides mentoring to youth every Friday.

What's Next for REAL Recovery

The REAL Recovery staff have crafted vision boards outlining their hopes and goals for future projects and initiatives. These include sober living facilities, transitional housing, funding for more staff, a larger building, and additional support groups.

In 2025, they plan to start the onboarding process for a discovery café that caters to teens. Modeled after the Recovery Café, it will serve as a safe space in the community for young people to come and talk through some of the challenges they may face, according to Shartzer.

In the future, Hay envisions hosting pop-up Recovery Cafés throughout the state. "We're looking to expand to other communities," he said. “We're also, of course, trying to strengthen what we have here."

Partnership with Daviess Advances Recovery Access Consortium (DARAC)

REAL Recovery Inc. is a Daviess Advances Recovery Access Consortium (DARAC) partner. Launched in 2020, DARAC is a collective of 15 partner agencies that aims to increase recovery efforts and reduce stigma about mental health and substance use throughout Daviess County.

Partners include local and state healthcare organizations, economic groups, non-profits, and universities, including IU. The initiative is supported by a U.S Health Resources and Services Administration grant. 

Shartzer said being a part of DARAC connects REAL Recovery with important networking opportunities, information about local and state grant and funding opportunities, and a spot at the table to discuss strategies for reducing stigma around substance use disorder and mental health in the community.

"It's not a competition," Shartzer said. "It is going to take all of us,"

The partnership also gives REAL Recovery the opportunity to speak on behalf of the people they work with every day. Making sure those voices are heard is how real change happens, Hay said. "If there's one thing I want REAL Recovery to be representative of, it's the voice of people in recovery," he said.