Community organizations in six northern Maine counties are actively recruiting RecoveryCorps members to support the newly launched Maine RecoveryCorps. Maine RecoveryCorps, funded by an AmeriCorps grant from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) awarded to Healthy Acadia, will focus on expanding recovery coaching to strengthen recovery support services and to improve recovery success among individuals facing substance use disorders, including opioid use disorders.
Healthy Acadia and organizations across Aroostook, Hancock, Knox, Penobscot, Waldo and Washington counties will host 30 full- and part-time RecoveryCorps members serving one-year terms of service, beginning in mid-September, 2018. RecoveryCorps members will engage in Recovery Coaching, an innovative form of peer-to-peer recovery support. RecoveryCorps coaches will serve as personal guides and mentors for people seeking recovery, helping them remove barriers and navigate systems to meet their treatment, wellness and recovery support goals. RecoveryCorps coaches have typically experienced substance use disorder and recovery either directly themselves or through someone close to them.
“The RecoveryCorps Program represents a significant expansion of recovery coaching services across a broad region,” said Elsie Flemings, Executive Director of Healthy Acadia. "We're thrilled that the Corporation for National and Community Service has recognized the need to expand services to support individuals seeking recovery from opioid use disorders, and that they saw the value that AmeriCorps members can bring in the form of recovery coaching. These AmeriCorps members will meet pressing local needs as they develop civic and leadership skills that will last a lifetime.”
Full-time RecoveryCorps members will receive a living allowance of $13,732, a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award of $5,920 that they can use to pay for college or to pay down student loans, health insurance, mileage, training, and more. Part-time RecoveryCorps members (6-8 hours of service per week) will receive a stipend of $1,000, a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award of $1,252.91, mileage, training, and more. Individuals 55 years old or older at time of their AmeriCorps service may transfer their education award to a child, grandchild, or foster child.
For information on how to apply for a RecoveryCorps position, visit www.healthyacadia.orgor contact Healthy Acadia’s Sandie Dubay at 667-7171 / sandie@healthyacadia.org.
If an organization is interested in hosting or sponsoring an AmeriCorps RecoveryCorps service member, please contact Sandie Dubay at 667-7171 or sandie@healthyacadia.org.
AmeriCorps is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through AmeriCorps, Senior Corps, the Social Innovation Fund, and the Volunteer Generation Fund. For more information, visit www.NationalService.gov.
