Recover Alaska community forum and workshop in Wasilla

WASILLA — Recover Alaska is hosting two community events in Wasilla Feb. 12, covering addiction and ways the community can foster recovery, additional local resources, collaboration, and advocacy for policy changes.

Recover Alaska is a multi-sector nonprofit organization that works to reduce the harm caused by excessive alcohol consumption in Alaska. They’re teaming up with MyHouse —the Valley’s pioneering homeless youth shelter and resource center — to facilitate the two public meetings.

“We’re super excited about it. What an honor to be able to host that,” MyHouse Founder and Executive Director Michelle Overstreet said.

The first meeting starts at 12:30 p.m. at the Menard Sports Center, titled “Our Stories Have Power: Storytelling, Advocacy and Policy Change.” This workshop is designed to get participants to work together to create a vision for a “vibrant, recovery-ready Alaska.”

The focus of the workshop is to teach people how to tell stories to affect change and advocate for community resources that make recovery from addiction possible.

“The purpose of that of that earlier workshop in the day is to teach people to tell their stories that encourages people to really listen and think about solutions,” Overstreet said.

Topics covered during the workshop include: recovery-oriented systems of care, best practices for recovery support services, the role of recovery community organizations, creative effective advocacy messages, influencing public policy and mobilizing community resources. Lunch will be provided.

After the storytelling workshop at the Menard Sports Center wraps up, Recover Alaska will start up the second and final event of the day at 4 p.m., a community forum at the Gathering Grounds Cafe to discuss the elements of a “recovery-ready community,” including prevention, substance-free recreation, employment, education, recovery housing, and peer-based recovery support services.

By the end of the day, the goal is for participants to walk away with a list of ways to support recovery across the Valley. It’s going to bring a lot of people together for the same reason, to help those struggling with addiction.

“The beauty of this for me is if we get somebody who’s you know, struggling, is that we have a whole team of people that can come alongside them and they have a peer support group, and to walk with them… What do you do and what does it look like, and really help to get the ball moving in terms of treatment and getting well from that,” Overstreet said. “When we have all the pieces in place, so no matter where you get on the train, you get help.”

For more information about Wednesday’s events or Recover Alaska, call 907-249-6645 or visit recoveralaska.org.

To contact MyHouse, call 907-373-4357, visit myhousematsu.org, or look them up on Facebook.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com