Recovery in action across our community
The Reach of Recovery in Our Community (2025)
Happy New Year from all of us at Fellowship Recovery Community Organization đź’š
As we step into 2026, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the powerful impact our recovery community created together throughout 2025. Our Recovery Community Centers remained safe, welcoming spaces where individuals could walk in and be met with compassion, dignity, and real support. Throughout the year, recovery support was centered on individual needs, with our team providing a wide range of personalized, recovery-oriented services that met people where they were.
Housing stability and peer connection continued to serve as cornerstones of recovery, helping individuals regain sustainability and rebuild momentum in their lives. As we enter 2026, we are energized by what’s possible. With your continued support, we will expand access to recovery services, strengthen community partnerships, and ensure that no one has to walk their recovery journey alone.
Thank you for being part of Recovery In Action!
Recovery is happening every day, and together, we make it possible.
Featured Community Partner
Recovery does not happen in isolation. It is nurtured through relationships, shared values, and the collective care of a community that believes healing is possible. At Fellowship Recovery Community Organization, we are deeply aware that the work we do is strengthened by the partners who walk alongside us, each bringing their own expertise, compassion, and heart to the recovery journey.
This section of our newsletter is dedicated to honoring those community partners. Much like the saying “it takes a village,” recovery is sustained through collaboration, trust, and mutual commitment. By highlighting the organizations and leaders we are grateful to work with, we aim to celebrate the connections that expand hope, deepen impact, and remind us all that recovery truly reaches further when we move forward together.
Dr. Blair Barone & The Lucky Horse Sanctuary
Dr. Blair Barone & The Lucky Horse Sanctuary is a community-based nonprofit led by Dr. Blair Barone, a licensed clinical psychologist who trained and taught at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Blair is dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating horses and farm animals while using their healing power to support people in recovery from mental and behavioral health conditions. Located in Broward County, The Lucky Horse Sanctuary is the largest therapeutic farm in the state of Florida, housing over 80 rescue horses and other farm animals. Their work provides equitable, evidence-based, animal-assisted psychotherapy to children, adolescents, and adults by creating pathways to emotional wellness, resilience, and hope through connection with animals.
Fellowship RCO believes recovery is strengthened through connection, purpose, and community care. What started in 2021 as a simple service project initiative between FRCO and The Lucky Horse Sanctuary has grown into something deeply meaningful. Today, participants staying at the Respite are invited to attend weekly therapy groups on the farm where they spend time with the animals, engage in guided therapeutic activities, and gain new perspective on their own recovery journeys by connecting with animals who are in recovery themselves and represent the idea that healing is possible.
Referrals into this group come through thoughtful collaboration between participants, house managers, and peer specialists. When someone expresses interest or shows a need for additional emotional or therapeutic support, the Nature to Nurture group is offered as an individualized layer of care. This ensures each participant’s recovery plan reflects their unique goals, readiness, and strengths.
Animals naturally mirror human emotions, and there is powerful transformation when a participant sees their own reflection in the animal they are bonding with. In those moments, shame gives way to compassion, and struggle is replaced with hope. This reinforces the truth that recovery is not only real, but within reach.
“Working with Fellowship RCO has been such a gift. The participants who come from the Respite arrive open to the experience and willing to be honest about where they are in their recovery. That kind of vulnerability is powerful. Our animals sense it too, and they respond with calm, connection, and comfort. When people and animals meet each other in that space, healing happens in the most natural and authentic way.”— Dr. Blair Barone, Founder and Executive Director, The Lucky Horse Sanctuary
“The Nature to Nurture program has made a substantial impact on the participants who attend the weekly group sessions. Many arrive at the farm feeling overwhelmed, depressed, sick, and anxious. When they return, they walk back into the facility with a renewed sense of confidence, balance, and enthusiasm about their recovery. The shift is visible, and it is powerful.”— Lauren Sabelle, Respite Director, Fellowship Recovery Community Organization
Discover more about Dr. Blair Barone and The Lucky Horse Sanctuary or ask one of our Peer Specialists how to get involved in the Nature to Nurture program.
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