The Wisconsin Association of Sober Housing has been operating since 2018 with little to no recognition or support from the state of Wisconsin. WASH sought and was awarded a research grant that began in 2021 in order to hire a project director and begin the work of building a base of certified recovery residences. In employing a community based participatory research methodology, WASH has achieved a core mass of recovery residence operators with a strong sense of community within the cohort of participants as well as ownership over the state of the state and the promotion of quality standards. In the absence of funding for marketing, state incentives for certification, and other operational means, this critical mass of residence operators have taken on the role of promotion and mentorship for new residences and operational residences seeking certification. We will utilize qualitative data collected through focus group sessions to show how the recovery ecosystem has been strengthened by recovery residence operator engagement with WASH and the related impacts.
Attendees will learn how engaging residence operators in a peer network, program development and implementation, creates a sense of ownership that can be leveraged into operational capacity at the affiliate level.
Attendees will understand how a grassroots approach (e.g., on-site policy writing technical assistance) can work to create a strong recovery ecosystem and community of operators working collaboratively through trust and partnership at the statewide level.