12-24 Club

Addiction has a limitless reach. No amount of money, friends, or material success can insulate a person from its effects. Regardless of socioeconomic class, race, religion, or sex, people turn to substances to cope with living in an increasingly disconnected world. As a society we do not acknowledge the existential toll “a day in the life” takes on all of us, and in denying our collective suffering we hide and shame the ways in which everyday people deal with such suffering.

Drugs and alcohol are destructive for everything they do and everything they promise to do but can’t. The vast majority of people who get addicted to drugs and alcohol do not set the intention to do so. Rather, they simply are looking for a respite. There are countless factors that determine who will or will not become addicted to alcohol or drugs, but as long as addictive drugs - both legal and illegal - are around, humans will get addicted to them.

At the 12-24 Club, we are dedicated to intentionally creating a space and community centered around fellowship, integrity, and authenticity. The 12-24 Club offers individuals in recovery or seeking recovery from various addictions an environment free from the external pressures to use substances and full of other individuals committed to bettering their lives. The opposite of addiction isn’t sobriety, it’s connection. Dismantling addiction for the individual and for our communities at large requires us to replace the barriers we use to separate and insulate ourselves from our internal and external stressors with networks of connection, community, and fellowship.

We serve by being the only location in Central Wyoming that provides access to an array of recovery programs and services while remaining 100% free of charge or obligation. We do this by housing various fellowship-centered recovery programs specific to substance abuse or addiction.

The day-to-day operations of the 12-24 Club include two full-time, salaried staff members and 8-12 employed participants in our Fresh Start Café job program. In this program, we hire addicts and alcoholics who are newly sober and provide them training in various restaurant service areas. However, the real economic value of the program is that participants build a solid foundation by working each shift in an environment filled with long-term recovery and fellowship. Our hours of operation are 8 am to 9:30 pm, 7 days a week.

We house various fellowship-centered recovery programs specific to substance abuse or addiction. Today our program list includes:
Alcoholics Anonymous
Narcotics Anonymous
Crystal Meth Anonymous
Eating Disorders Anonymous
Overeaters Anonymous
Co-Dependents Anonymous
Y12SR Recovery-infused Yoga
Women Only AA
Grief & Loss Support
Wellbriety
Al-Anon

These programs amount to a schedule of 41 to 43 meetings held weekly. In between these meeting times, people in recovery are free to utilize our various amenities. These include our recovery library, studying a recovery program in our several meditation/sponsorship rooms, relaxing in our common area, or, most importantly - connecting with a newcomer and helping them recover from addiction. Our fundamental aim is to be a non-intrusive resource for those rebuilding their lives simply by creating a space to grow. And again, under no conditions do we require any personal information, fee, or obligation of any kind.

We continue to effectively meet our goals by employing a combination of strategic planning, resource allocation, and continuous monitoring and adaptation. We are proud to announce that in 2023 we secured additional funding for our 12-24 program and a partnership with Alkermes through their Inspiration Grants for individuals living with addiction in rural areas.

We are working to accomplishing every goals laid out in our strategic plan, but are particularly proud of adding mindfulness programs to the roster of programs utilizing the club. We want our facility to encourage programming that engages holistic and whole person health as well as addressing mental well being and substance use. Our Y12RS (Yoga of 12 Step Recovery) is a step in that direction. The Y12SR w model is a way to address the physical, mental and spiritual dis-ease of addiction. Y12SR is informed by the latest research in neuroscience and trauma healing, and combines the somatic approach of yoga with the cognitive approach of the 12-step recovery model – the most well-known addiction recovery program in the world, with millions of active practitioners.

In June of 2024, we announced our partnership with Casper Community College in creating a scholarship for students impacted by addiction. Using a percentage of sales generated by our Fresh Start Cafe', we gradually raised $25,000 to establish an endowment fund within the Casper College Foundation. We were then able to match our funding with a government grant, resulting in $50,000 endowment that will sustain "The 12-24 Club Scholarship" for years to come. Every semester, the 12-24 Club board of directors will award $750 each to two students directly or indirectly impacted by addiction.