FIT TO RECOVER INC

Fit To Recover provides community, connection and safety in a supportive environment for those in recovery from Substance Use Disorder (SUD). Our Community Center contains a gym, kitchen, and music studio to serve many interests. Members share their skills in a collaborative peer environment that encourages both support and accountability.

Fit To Recover's fourth pillar is based on Service to our community. We are grateful for community support and giving back in gratitude is foundational for recovery.

Our goal is to continue to expand the number and diversity of individuals we serve within these environments.

Above all we provide a non-judgmental environment that supports a community whose members have “been there,” and who hold each other up and hold each other accountable for their recovery. As a peer-support community, we exchange insights and assistance to each other that are grounded in experience. Further, and as importantly, our community is active and engaged in positive, healthy activities. We help individual members set goals for physical and nutritional health, and provide outlets for creative expression (e.g. storytelling, music performance), and giving back to our larger community (e.g. community service work with food banks and our community garden, and volunteer with the Salt Lake Marathon and other special events). In addition, our Creative Arts programs provides the Deeply Rooted series of Community Performances that feature music, poetry and storytelling surrounded by visual arts as a channel of personal expression and the opportunity to give back to our audiences and community.

We have a 5,500 sq. ft. gym and community center complete with a teaching kitchen and small recording studio. Our fitness staff members are certified fitness instructors led by an Advanced Substance Use Disorder (ASUD) certified trainer. Those who teach cooking and meal preparation are registered dietitians, and our Creative Arts program is led by a music therapist who holds a Masters Degree in Art Therapy. We participate in a network of other organizations that serve the recovery community. Finally, we are able and willing to travel to the sites of others, providing programs at the Oxbow Jail, Summit County Drug Court and a prevention-based program for youth away from our facility. Above all, we are a community of members who share their often remarkable talents with other members when they are in need.

In four years, we have increased the number of people we have served from under 100 when we started to over 5,000 we have now served; this is our greatest accomplishment. Further, we have steadily increased the number of treatment centers with whom we work from 3 to 15 in our five years of existence. We have introduced a program with the Oxbow Jail and the Summit County Drug Court to provide weekly workouts for both male and female low-level drug offenders in their custody, and offer an avenue to join the Fit To Recover community upon their release from jail.

When COVID-19 suspended our face-face programs from March-July in 2020, we created a virtual gym to support our members with multiple weekly classes. Our nutrition program cooked and delivered meals to our members and their families when we were unable to cook together.

What's next? We have offered a pilot program to help other non-profits who wish to start programs similar to FTR's in their own communities. Our first certification was a success, and a Colorado-based CrossFit gym is expanding their offerings to include classes tailored to those in recovery. We ask you to evaluate our progress for yourself—visit our website at https://fit2recover.org , or better yet, visit us in-person at our gym.