Recovery Navigator Joins a Community of Helping Others

Being able to relate and connect with someone through shared experiences can create transformative relationships, just ask Recovery Corps member, Rachel. As a Recovery Navigator, she uses her lived experience to support others to reach their recovery goals every day. 

Rachel learned about Recovery Corps when she was in treatment herself. An employee of the facility was an alum of the program himself and told Rachel about the opportunity to use her knowledge and gain professional experience. The more Rachel learned, the more she was convinced that becoming a Recovery Navigator would be the perfect next step! 

“Coming to work every day and having an office, I’d never had that before,” Rachel says. “It sounded like a really amazing opportunity to grow professionally and figure out where I want to go with this.” 

As a Recovery Navigator, Rachel works with people at every stage of their recovery journeys. Serving at Minnesota Recovery Connection in St. Paul, she meets one-on-one with people who need resources to begin their recovery journeys and eventually meet their goals. She helps clients decrease their substance use, finds available treatment centers, eases the reentry process for formerly incarcerated people, and helps guide others through the many systems needed for a life in recovery. Rachel, who began serving in July 2024, has already seen her clients make fantastic progress! 

“My very first [client] was in active use when she came and really didn't want to be here. Through conversations, coming in, and checking in with me, I was able to build a rapport with her. She knew that she could come here and there was no judgement,” Rachel explains. “We were able to work through some of her barriers, and I was able to find some resources. She’s sober now. She just found an apartment, and she has a job. Her being able to come here and sit down with somebody who's in recovery and has seen some of the barriers and was able to help her navigate through them, I think that helped immensely.” 

In addition to helping her peers reach their recovery goals, Rachel also works with many others who have launched careers in the recovery community! In her office, she and the other Recovery Corps members regularly collaborate, locating resources together and connecting through their AmeriCorps service. Many of Rachel’s coworkers and peers at other recovery organizations are Recovery Corps alumni, who offer advice and inspiration to Rachel. 

“One great thing about working at Minnesota Recovery Connection right now is meeting all of these people in big, important roles and finding out that a lot of them got their start from being a part Recovery Corps,” she says. “I'm like, ‘So you were in my spot just two years ago?’ Now they’re doing all these amazing things. I just think, ‘Wow, I can do that too!’ It's really cool.” 

Rachel knows that peer recovery support is the career for her. Her service hours and Recovery Corps training count towards earning peer recovery specialist certification, and she plans to take the exam – with the fee covered by Recovery Corps – at the end of the year. She’s also currently looking at options to use her Segal AmeriCorps education award to enroll in college and further her education to become a licensed alcohol and drug counsellor. 

“This is where my heart is at,” she says. "This is what I want to do.” 

Recovery Corps service is an excellent way to join a community of passionate individuals who make recovery possible for people across the country. If you or someone you know wants to make a difference, learn more about upcoming opportunities to serve at recoverycorps.us.