On April 2nd, “Wicked Local” printed an article about the RLC, which you can read by clicking here.
The piece, written by Gintautas Dumcius, is titled “Protesters rip Baker cuts to recovery services”.
Here’s an excerpt:
“According to Ruthie Poole, director of advocacy at the Roxbury-based Transformation Center, Gov. Charlie Baker’s fiscal 2016 budget proposal includes $1.7 million for recovery learning communities (RLCs), down from $3.5 million in fiscal year 2015. The Department of Mental Health has not explained the cut to them, Poole said.
“It guts us,” she said.
Anne Whitman, chair of Metro Boston and Southeast RLCs, said… “What was important to me was the peer support”. “We help people get jobs, run peer support groups, help with GED [General Educational Development], housing.”
In a statement, Chuck O’Leary of Melrose said the Metro Boston RLC served him three days a week “during the worst depression of my life.” He said being with others recovering from mental health conditions helped him the most. “I felt very accepted, very welcomed and not judged,” O’Leary said.
“We support each other through support groups, we socialize with each other and we do get better,” said Justin Brown, director of the Northeast Recovery Learning Community, which serves 52 communities, including Lowell, Malden and Newburyport. “Recovery is real.”
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