If you would like to learn more about Grit and Grace:

https://gritandgracesoberlivingforwomen.org/

There are only two requirements for membership:

• A desire to stop using alcohol or other intoxicating drugs.
• A desire to manage our emotional or psychiatric illness in a healthy and constructive way.

DRA members are encouraged to build a strong personal support network. That network may include support from chemical dependency or mental health treatment facilities, medical or social service professionals, and spiritual or religious assistance in addition to other 12 step or self-help groups. DRA has no opinion on the way the other groups address dual disorders or dual recovery. We do not offer advice regarding specific forms of treatment for the various types of emotional or psychiatric illnesses. However, we do share our personal experiences regarding the ways that we have learned to cope with our symptoms by applying the 12 steps in our daily lives.

The Dual Recovery Anonymous™ approach to dual recovery is based on a simple set of ideas and steps. They are suggestions for recovery rather than a set of rules. They encourage us to find our own personal recovery, the one that is most meaningful. They are meant to support those of us who wish to bring a spiritual dimension to our dual recovery. The DRA program is worked on a day-by-day basis.

Here are the suggestions for dual recovery:

• Today, I will be free of alcohol and other intoxicating drugs.
• Today, I will follow a healthy plan to manage my emotional or psychiatric illness.
• Today, I will practice the Twelve Steps to the best of my ability.

Dual Recovery Anonymous Meeting Directory - Find a Virtual Meeting — Massachusetts Clubhouse Coalition (massclubs.org)

ABOUT THE MA CLUBHOUSE COALITION

The Massachusetts Clubhouse Coalition is dedicated to expanding employment, housing, educational, social, and leadership opportunities available to Massachusetts citizens who have a mental illness. The MCC was organized to uphold and promote the values, principles and financial integrity of the international Clubhouse model toward the empowerment of people with mental health needs. Toward this purpose the MCC will take action, advocate, provide support, and offer opportunities to network and educate ourselves and the community while working as an organization to remove barriers to successful community integration. The Massachusetts Clubhouse Coalition is committed to helping Clubhouses and individual Clubhouse members reach their full potential. 

Dedicated to assisting adults with major mental illness to live full, productive, stable lives in the community, the MCC is a non-profit organization whose membership includes more than 15,000 Massachusetts residents who have a major mental illness, and belong to at least one of the 32 community-based vocational and social rehabilitation centers, called “Clubhouses”. Membership in the MCC is awarded to Clubhouses (and their members and staff) which achieve certification from the International Center for Clubhouse Development (ICCD) ensuring the quality of services provided by these rehabilitation centers.

The MCC helps its member Clubhouses expand rehabilitative opportunities and services for employment, housing, education, health, peer support and mental health care. It also helps individual members develop the leadership skills that enable them to participate fully in life – not only at the Clubhouse, but also in the community. The MCC works to remove obstacles to gaining employment, an education and housing in the community and helps to diminish the stigma of living with a mental illness by engaging in educational endeavors. Operating as a clearinghouse of information, a provider of technical assistance, a vehicle for organizing and a coordinator of services and resources for Clubhouses across Massachusetts, the goals of the MCC are:

• Work in partnership with local employers to increase employment opportunities for Coalition members through education and system change.
• Increase local opportunities for members to gain an education.
• Utilize educational approaches to increase affordable housing opportunities for members.
• Organize and advocate for access to health care, dental care, substance abuse services for individuals with a major mental illness.
• Provide leadership development opportunities for individual members through formal training, conferences and by encouraging and developing leadership towards participation in activities that influence public policy and on-the-job learning through leadership activities within individual Clubhouses and the community.

Participation in the clubhouse is free to those who have a serious and persistent mental illness. The Clubhouses are funded with state tax dollars via the Department of Mental Health. Clubhouses are founded on the belief that rehabilitation for people who are working to recover from the effects of mental illness is greatly facilitated when individuals participate in meaningful work, including paid employment.

WWW.MASSCLUBS.ORG