Four articles, one page worth forwarding, and an honest correction about our staffing budget.
Dear Friends,
Last month I wrote that we had run out of hands. That is still true. But August turned out to be the most productive month this foundation has had, and it went in a direction I did not plan.
We published four articles. All four turned out to be about the same thing: a person who needs help cannot get it if nobody has explained how the system works. Where the levels of care actually differ. Whether what they are doing counts as a problem. What to do about the cigarettes nobody ever brings up. How to find a meeting when there is no central place to look.
None of that is inspiring. All of it is the difference between a phone call that goes somewhere and one that does not.
So there is no ask in this letter. There is a map. The most useful thing you can do with this issue is send the next section to one person who needs it.
Kevin D. Flynn, RCP — Founder & Executive Director
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will
counsel you with my loving eye on you.”
— PSALM 32:8 (NIV)
Four Links Worth Keeping — the directories that cover almost everyone
From the Blog — four new articles published in August
Where Things Stand — the staffing budget, the scholarship, and the third pillar
Governance — the board meets September 7
There is no central directory of recovery meetings. These four cover almost everyone.
Somebody looking for their first meeting gets handed a research project at the worst possible moment of their life. Recovery meetings are thousands of independent groups, mostly volunteer-run, listed across a dozen websites that do not talk to each other. Nobody maintains a master list, because nobody is in charge.
That is not a willpower problem. It is a directory problem, and it takes about four minutes to solve once someone shows you where to look. Here is the whole thing in four lines.
For a Christian meeting — celebraterecovery.com (Celebrate Recovery)
If drugs are any part of the story — na.org/meetingsearch (Narcotics Anonymous)
For alcohol — the free Meeting Guide app, or aa.org/find-aa
For online, any hour — virtual-na.org or aa-intergroup.org
Two things are worth passing along with the links. Go twice before deciding anything about a room. One meeting tells you about that night, not about the fellowship. And online meetings count. They are not a lesser version of the real thing.
In this part of the state, the New England Region of Narcotics Anonymous keeps its own list at nerna.org/find a-meeting, broken out by area. Leominster falls under North East Mass.
We are not hosting a meeting right now. What we do is help people find one, and sit in that first online meeting alongside them when that helps.
Four articles, all practical, all free to read and free to share.
Detox, Inpatient, IOP, Outpatient: A Plain-English Map
What each level of care actually means, who it is for, and how Massachusetts labels them. Written for the family member who was handed five acronyms and no explanation. marktwelverecovery.org/articles/detox-inpatient-iop-outpatient-a-plain-english-map
How Do I Know If I Have a Problem? Questions Worth Sitting With: Six honest questions instead of a scored quiz. It is not a screening instrument, and it says so plainly. marktwelverecovery.org/articles/how-do-i-know-if-i-have-a-problem
How Do I Quit Smoking When Nothing Else Has Worked
The addiction nobody in recovery wants to discuss, and the evidence that quitting strengthens sobriety rather than threatening it. marktwelverecovery.org/articles/how-do-i-quit-smoking-when-nothing-else-has-worked
How to Find a Meeting When You Don’t Know Where to Start The long version of the section above: which directory to use, how to judge whether a room fits, and what actually happens when you walk in. marktwelverecovery.org/articles/how-to-find-a-meeting-when-you-dont-know-where-to-start-your-recovery-journey
Everything we publish stays free and stays public at marktwelverecovery.org/articles. Nothing is gated, and nothing asks for an email address first.
Short updates on the rest of the foundation’s work, including one correction.
In the August issue, I wrote that the board would set the figure for our two proposed part-time positions and that the approved budget would be published here. It is not, and I would rather correct that than let it pass. The item goes to the Board of Directors at its September 7 meeting. We will publish the approved figure once the board has acted, not before, and not as an estimate dressed up as a decision. No position will be posted until the budget is approved and the funding is substantially in hand.
Unchanged from last month, which is worth saying plainly rather than dressing up. Our scholarship funds an additive layer of Christian recovery coach training for people who have already earned their CCAR certification independently. Curriculum selection remains in final review. When the program is chosen, we will publish the criteria, the application, and the award cadence together.
Our shift away from hosting our own meetings and toward referral and affiliate partnerships with organizations already running online Christian recovery meetings continues. We are not naming partners yet. Before this foundation sends a hurting person to an outside meeting, somebody from our team should have sat in it — and we would rather be slow about that than confident about it.
Both roles described in the August issue remain open: the Mark Twelve Coach Corps for credentialed recovery coaches, and the Christian Recovery Virtual Travel Team, which requires no certification at all. The full descriptions are in last month’s letter.
All six remain available at no cost: the four dimensions of loving God from Mark 12, loving yourself as God loves you from Psalm 139, loving your neighbor from Mark 12:31, a study written for combat veterans from Joshua 1:9, pouring out your heart from Psalm 62:8, and comfort for those who mourn from Matthew 5:4.
The Board of Directors meets next on Monday, September 7, 2026. Our directors serve without compensation: Chris Kinney, MBA, Chair; Evelyn Delgado-Flynn, Treasurer; Niki Dillingham, Secretary; Jean Landry, Director; and Amanda Prokowiew, Director. The Executive Director serves ex officio and does not vote.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
— MARK 12:30 (NIV)
M A R K TW E L V E R E C O V E R Y F O U N D A T I O N , I N C .
marktwelverecovery.org • 114 Water Tower Plaza #1089, Leominster, MA 01453
A 501(c)(3) public charity • EIN 41-4761057
Kevin D. Flynn, RCP • Founder & Executive Director • A Christian Path to Sobriety