ABOUT US

Thriving through every stage of recovery. Together.

Recovery looks different for every person who walks it. For some, that means abstinence; for others, it means medication-assisted treatment, harm reduction, or a combination that shifts over time. What matters isn't the path; it's that the person is safer, healthier, and more connected today than they were yesterday.

At RICARES, we believe harm reduction saves lives, and that every pathway toward a better life deserves support, not judgment. Recovery is not a single destination; it's the ongoing, self-directed process of building a life worth living.

OUR CORE PROGRAMS

01

Advocacy
We work with lawmakers and community leaders to expand access to recovery resources and reduce stigma statewide.

See Our Advocacy Work
02

Recovery workforce
We train, certify, and support peer recovery specialists across Rhode Island, building a workforce grounded in lived experience and real connection.

Become a Peer Recovery Specialist
03

Recovery Housing
We help create and maintain safe, supportive housing options that provide the stability needed to sustain long-term recovery.

Certify Your Recovery Home
04

Community
Through public events, networking, and everyday connections, we create spaces where no one has to recover alone.

Join Our Community

A Rhode Island where everyone impacted by addiction has the support, dignity, and opportunity to build a lasting recovery.

OUR COMMITMENT

Organize, articulate, and mobilize recovery voices and foster broad public awareness of the breadth and power of recovery.
Promote all pathways to recovery and the people that walk them.
Work to eliminate the impact of addiction stigma, gaps in the recovery ecosystem, and the social drivers of health.
Foster the development and accessibility of community-based recovery capital. + Bring people together to celebrate recovery in all of its forms.
Meet the need for recovery housing and appropriate support for people early in recovery in Rhode Island.
Encourage the research, development, and delivery of exemplary peer-based and other recovery support services.
Grow and support a professional, sustainable, and effective recovery workforce.

Our Staff & Board:

Led by people with lived recovery experience and guided by a volunteer board of directors, RICARES is committed to keeping our organization independent, accountable, and community-rooted.

Lindsay Garcia
Executive Director

Jessica Jean-Charles
Chief of Staff

Andy Ochintree
Board Member

Meet The Team

OUR HISTORY

Rooted in Rhode Island's Recovery Movement

RICARES was founded in the late 90s as a grassroots organization focused primarily on social activities for the recovery community. What started as a small effort of a few has grown into a statewide recovery capital support network. The organization incorporated in 2011 and gained 501(c)(3) status in 2012.

Since then, RICARES has created the first CPRS professional association, helped open and monitor dozens of recovery houses across the state, and found a new home in Olneyville. RICARES has always been guided by the belief that recovery is possible for everyone, and that community is what makes it last.

Read Our Full Story ➔