Upcoming Recovery Walk And Rally With Casper’s 12-24 Club

In our latest episode of Report to Wyoming I caught up with Jeremy Jones, the Executive Director for the 12-24 Club in Casper, a free community resource built around recovery from addiction. You can give it a listen below.

In general, the nonprofit serves Central Wyoming's recovery community. A lot of the programs that meet are 12-step, peer-led groups. The 12-24 club works in partnership with those groups to provide a safe space.

There is an attitude of tolerance, welcoming, acceptance and everyone there is there for the same ailment, whether it's alcoholism, drug addiction, or dealing with a family member who has a substance abuse issue.

Typically most days there is a drug-court officer downstairs or in the parking lot. Upstairs staff does a good job of making sure everything is safe and friendly for the people that come into the building.

Jones says his personal standard for safety is to think, "If I were a young woman coming to the 12-24 club for the very first time and I've been through some trauma, I've been through some awful things, and I just don't want to use or drink today, if I came to the club would I feel safe at any given moment in our building? And if the answer is no, then that's something we have to correct."

Jones is proud to say the building is safe, holistic, and supportive -- and that's largely in part to the members that come and foster that atmosphere.

"We rely on creating a space where everybody feels welcome" says Jones. Recovery programs rely on people being able to freely share their lived experiences with a problem whether they're living with that problem currently or they've found a solution to that problem.

"Casper's recovery community does a wonderful job of embracing people the people that have not recovered yet."

Coming up, the 12-24 club will have a Recovery Walk on September 27, meeting at the clubhouse (500 S. Wolcott Street) at 10 Am. The walk will end at Wyoming Recovery. They'll have prizes, free lunch, a 50/50 raffle and guest speakers.

Also they'll be holding the 20th Annual Recovery Rally on Friday, October 3rd at the Best Western Downtown. Doors open at 5:00 PM. Expect a comedy show and $$10,000 recovery raffle!