Recovery Community Centers & Organizations
The peer-led backbone of recovery in Kentucky — what RCCs and RCOs are, and how they work together.
Two peer-led ways Kentucky builds recovery.
You'll hear two terms across the recovery community: RCC (Recovery Community Center) and RCO (Recovery Community Organization). Both are led by people with lived experience of recovery, both welcome every pathway, and both are non-clinical — they're about connection and community, not treatment. Here's how they differ, and how they work together.
Recovery Community Center (RCC)
A place to belong
An RCC is a welcoming physical space — often called the recovery community's living room. It's somewhere to drop in, find peer support, and connect with people who understand.
What you'll typically find:
- Peer recovery support, one-on-one and in groups
- All-recovery-pathways mutual aid meetings
- Sober social events and community activities
- Help connecting to resources, jobs, and services
Recovery Community Organization (RCO)
A movement that mobilizes
An RCO is an independent nonprofit led and governed by people in recovery and their families. It organizes the recovery community to support one another and to change the conditions that stand in the way of recovery.
What an RCO does:
- Peer recovery support services and training
- Advocacy and public education
- Reducing stigma and putting a face on recovery
- Supporting local centers and recovery efforts
People Advocating Recovery is Kentucky's statewide RCO.
One movement, working at every level.
The RCC is the place
It's where recovery happens day to day — a front door in the community that anyone can walk through to find peers, meetings, and support.
The RCO is the engine
It builds the movement behind the centers: peer services, training, advocacy at the Capitol, and the public voice of recovery statewide.
Together they carry it
An RCO may run one or more centers, or none at all — and many communities have both. In Kentucky, PAR and local RCCs work side by side so no one has to find recovery alone.
Recovery community centers and organizations offer peer support and connection. They are not treatment, crisis, or emergency services. In crisis, call or text 988.
Looking for a recovery community center near you?
Browse Kentucky's recovery community centers by county on our directory — and if you help run a center, you can add or update your listing.
