NORTHAMPTON — With a newly renovated location and new programming, the Northampton Recovery Center has made a return to downtown Northampton to provide various opportunities for peer-led support for those recovering from substance use disorder or any other addiction.
The center reopened late last month at the site of the former La Fiorentina Pastry Shop, which shuttered in summer 2019 and had since sat vacant at 25 Armory St.
The center’s former location at 2 Gleason Plaza was less than 1,000 square feet and “just one big room, essentially,” said Lynn Ferro, the center’s director, with no room for staff offices, or for more than one program to take place at a time.
In contrast, the new space is a “night and day” difference, Ferro said. At almost 3,000 square feet, the location is almost triple the size of its former space. There’s a full kitchen, a one-on-one coaching room for private conversations, and another room for staff. It also includes a computer area, art exhibits, a lounge area and other amenities not previously available at the center’s old location.
The recently opened location will allow the center to offer a variety of new programs, Ferro said. Now that the center has additional space, staff and peer mentors have begun to fill it with yoga and art supplies, instruments, cooking materials and other resources to help people learn new skills and other ways to enrich life.
The Northampton Recovery Center launched in 2016 at the Edwards Church on Main Street before moving to Gleason Plaza in spring 2018, then Armory Street. The center is currently open on a limited basis and will likely have its grand opening in July.
The center supports people in all stages of recovery and operates via a peer participatory model, where people in later stages of recovery help to design the programming and mentor those at an earlier point in their progress.
Northampton resident Ricky Paiva, who was attending a painting class at the center on Friday afternoon, reiterated this sentiment.
“It doesn’t matter how long people have been in recovery,” Paiva said. “You just show up.”
Paiva, who has been in recovery for over three decades, said that the center provides an opportunity for him to contribute to the community.
“The biggest thing for me, why I come here, is I have to show a good example,” Paiva said. “It’s all about giving back.”
As for the new location, “it’s a lot easier to find,” Paiva said. “It’s right in the heart of Northampton.”
As a state-designated Peer Recovery Support center, the Northampton Recovery Center is receiving $400,000 a year for three years in financial support from the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance and Addiction Services and Greenfield-based RECOVER Project. The center also received a $16,000 Beveridge Family Foundation Grant to renovate the space.
The location was renovated “from bare bones,” Ferro said, with just the kitchen sink left behind by the former bakery.
The state guidelines require the center to feature many of the elements in the new space, such as a large gathering area, quiet room, staff room and full kitchen. The kitchen is equipped with a large stove, two ovens, two sinks, an island, and cooking supplies and is expected to serve as a place for NRC members to learn basic cooking and baking skills and for a cultural culinary exchange, according to Ferro.
In addition, the center has a conference room, two accessible bathrooms with baby-changing tables, storage lockers and computer terminals for members, a sitting/reception area and a large community room. A sidewalk-facing alcove will be used to display member-created art exhibits.
A committee of around eight peers met several times over the course of a few months not just to determine programming, but to establish the space itself.
“Literally everything was decided by the peers,” Ferro said, “and so that enables the membership to have buy-in, because they’re committed. Because they get to make decisions, this is their space.”
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.