What is Celebration Recovery?

Celebration Recovery is a program initiated and sponsored by The Irwin Foundation with support from private and public sources. Celebration Recovery offers a unique opportunity to celebrate the good news that individuals with mental illness can and do recover.

Celebration Recovery brings together individuals in recovery, their friends and family, professionals, and others who work with them, and the broader, caring community in a festive gala event with inspirational talks, music, art, dancing, food, fellowship, exhibits, and educational presentations.

Our “celebrations” have been held in parks, convention centers, hotels, catering halls, and in the vestibule of the Massachusetts State House in Boston. These events have included individuals in recovery and those striving toward recovery; individuals and groups offering treatment programs; service providers and agencies; educators; family, friends, and peers; public officials, local dignitaries, representatives of corporations, and members of the local business communities – all those who participate, care, and make a difference to ensure that everyone has the change to recover from mental illness.

Since 2001, we have celebrated recovery in venues across the country – from coast to coast. Locations of past Celebration Recovery events have included: Dallas; Austin; Cleveland and Akron, Ohio; Chicago; Orange County, San Diego, and San Jose, California; Boston; Pittsburgh; Bridgeport and New London, Connecticut; New York City; and Buffalo and Jamestown, New York.

Building Better Tomorrows is an educational initiative sponsored by The Irwin Foundation in partnership with the Adult Recovery Network of Ohio and the Ohio Department of Mental Health. It includes a twenty page pamphlet, “Building Better Tomorrows: Recovering from Mental Illness,” and a series of workshops focusing on topics such as recovery-oriented interventions; consumer operated services; peer and community support programs; supportive education, employment, and housing; evidence-based practices; cultural competencies; and the philosophy and principals of the recovery vision.