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This week, our movement crossed an extraordinary threshold: we've now directly impacted one million people navigating recovery from substance use.
Let’s sit with that for a moment. One million. Just last year, after 18 years of steady growth, we celebrated serving our 500,000th member. Now, barely a year later, we've doubled that number. The momentum is breathtaking. And it's exactly what this moment demands.
One million isn't just a statistic to me. It's a million individual lives transformed. A million people with a million different stories who are now creating ripples of change in their families, workplaces, and communities. It's the mother who gets another birthday dinner with her daughter. The coworker who shows up to make someone's day. The friend who's there to dance with.
That's what makes our approach different: we believe in the power of people supporting people. When someone joins The Phoenix or NewForm, they don't just get help. They become part of something bigger. They connect with others who understand, they find support through hard times, and then they pay it forward. That's how community works, and that's why our impact keeps multiplying.
Nearly 48 million Americans are struggling with substance use right now. That's a community the size of Spain, yet most are suffering in alone, disconnected from each other and from hope.
These days, there are a lot of discussions about America's loneliness epidemic, and a lot of hand wringing over the addiction crisis, but we still treat them like separate problems. They're not. Addiction thrives in isolation, and recovery requires connection.
That’s why this moment matters.
At the pace we're growing, we're heading toward a tipping point where we can fundamentally redefine how society approaches addiction and recovery, where community-based support becomes the norm, not the exception. Where recovery isn't something that happens in a clinic and ends when you're discharged. Where it's a living, breathing community that sees people for who they're becoming.
Almost 20 years ago, I took a gamble on a bold idea: recovery as possibility, not loss. Not a clinic—a movement. A community where people show up to climb, dance, box, practice yoga. Where the only requirement is 48 hours of sobriety, and if you slip, you come back without shame.
It worked because we gave people what they were starving for: a community that sees their possibility, not their pathology. Phoenix members aren't "addicts.” They're climbers, dancers, friends. Our data shows that 83% of new members stay sober after three months, compared to 40-60% using traditional models alone. But those numbers miss the point. They don't capture what really matters: lives reclaimed, futures reimagined, communities transformed.
This milestone is powered by more than 4,000 volunteers, more than 120 staff members, and thousands of donors who believe in this vision. And it's been accelerated by NewForm, our digital platform launched this March, ensuring that even more people can find the belonging and connection that fuel long-term recovery and mental health, wherever they are.
As we approach our 20th anniversary, this moment feels especially significant. Two decades of building community. One million people whose lives have been changed. And the momentum to reach millions more. And we’re doing just that. In the next 5 years, we’ll transform 10 million lives, reducing addiction rates, empowering volunteers, and eliminating stigma.
People in recovery aren't problems to manage. They're proof of what's possible when you give someone a reason to believe in themselves. If we want to address these major challenges, we shouldn't pity them—we should learn from them.
Because here's the truth: what people in recovery need is what all of us need. Communities anchored in possibility. Spaces where we're seen for who we're becoming. Connection that makes us stronger instead of smaller.
That's the tipping point we're chasing. That's the world worth building. With one million people impacted, we are truly changing the world. And together, we're just getting started.