The Retreat / Community of Recovering People

Residential and Non-Residential Services:As we move out of this global pandemic, the Organization continues to stay open and serve those suffering from alcohol/drug addiction and their families. A total of 547 guests were served in 2022 through our Residential Program at The Retreat in Wayzata, MN. The average length of stay for a guest in our residential program was 28 days. Sixty-six percent of the people participating were men and thirty-four percent were women with an average age of 43 years. The Retreat's Non-Residential Programs in both St. Paul and Wayzata served a total of 192 people in 2022, with 162 in our Evening Program and 30 in our 55Plus Program. Our Scholarship program assisted 548 people in 2022 providing $622,945 in scholarships.Teaching the essentials of recovery as embodied in the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and providing a strong focus on the basic principles of recovery are hallmarks of The Retreat philosophy. The Retreat creates an environment that promotes emotional and spiritual growth and helps establish a solid connection to the recovery community. Guests share their experience, strength and hope with one another, learning to trust and to understand the true nature of their illness and to take the steps necessary to recover.Retreat guests discover the importance of practicing the Twelve Step principles of Alcoholics Anonymous in their daily lives and gain a commitment to undergo the personal change so important to recovery. Mentoring and sponsorship deepen this process of change. Staff and volunteers who have walked a similar path share their experience and help guests to take the actions necessary to recover from their alcoholism or chemical dependency.

Family Program:The Organization's Family program runs Thursday evening through Sunday at noon two times each month. In 2022 there were 272 people that attended the 4-day retreat either in person or virtually.Alcoholism is a disease that affects the entire family. At The Retreat, we recognize the need for family members and loved ones to embark upon their own spiritual journey of recovery. The Retreat Family Program allows those negatively impacted by alcoholism and drug dependency to begin the healing process and encourages family members and loved ones to further explore how their lives have been personally affected by the disease. The Retreat Family Program gives participants the opportunity to better understand addiction, family dynamics and the process of recovery embodied in the Twelve Steps of Al-Anon.

Sober Living:The Organization operates six Sober Residences in the beautiful Crocus Hill area of St. Paul, MN. We offer 78 beds, 66 for men and 12 for women. In 2022 we served a total of 136 residents. The Sober Residences gives individuals the opportunity to put into practice the principles of recovery embodied in the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. With its close proximity to AA meetings, coffee houses and employment opportunities, residents become fully immersed in the recovery community and are provided the time structure and support essential to building a strong foundation of recovery.Housed separately, men and women work closely with sponsors to create a safe and supportive environment while establishing a solid foundation for recovery. Each resident commits to living at the Sober Residence for a minimum of six months. The fee ranges from $575 - $850 per month.

Other Programs:There were 275 people that participated in a Spiritual Retreat in 2022. Alcoholism affects us physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The development of the human spirit is a fundamental element of recovery and critical to a successful and fulfilling life. At The Retreat, we believe that on-going spiritual development is essential to long term sobriety and contentment. The Retreat's Center for Spiritual Development offers retreats as well as individual and group direction for those seeking to deepen their commitment to spiritual renewal and recovery. Guests explore the basic spiritual principles that give meaning to life and provide the framework for continued development.In an effort to help more people recover and bring the vast resources of recovery related information together to into one easily accessible format, the Retreat continues to operate myRecovery.com. This online recovery resource offers a social networking site designed specifically for people in recovery and the most comprehensive resource directory of recovery related information in the world including thousands of AA and Al-Anon talks, videos, a national AA and Al-Anon directory, a variety of self-scoring assessment tools, articles, blogs, podcasts and many other amazing features. We continued to host 76+ meetings a week with over 65 trusted services. Currently our MyRecovery Facebook page has over 100,000 followers.