Merin described herself as floundering before she found Recovery Café Longmont. “I was trying to do everything on my own, and I wasn’t feeling very good about how I was managing that.”
She heard about us through another Member and didn’t expect to be embraced and loved so quickly. “I was having a bad day on my first day, and the staff and volunteers listened to me and helped me see another perspective. We should really call it the Crisis Café, because when people come here, sometimes they are in crisis. But when they leave, they feel immensely better. I always leave feeling better than when I walked in.”
Merin enjoys her weekly Women’s Recovery Circle. “We share our stories, and we’re all so similar. We connect over both positive and negative events in our past. We support each other’s goals. I like the women. It’s a place to really feel that sense of community.”
Merin has limited mobility and is in recovery from mental health issues. Her huge smile and infectious positivity are appreciated by everyone in the Café. She has a slight twang in her speech from her time in Texas and to watch her shift from sadness to giggles is like witnessing a butterfly open its wings.
