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Welcome to the Metro Boston Recovery Learning Community (MBRLC) an entirely peer-run organization dedicated to providing support, education and advocacy by providing opportunities and resources to assist individuals in finding their own path to mental health recovery. Every Recovery Center has no barrier of access for people who self-identify as having a mental health issue in the past or present and/or having substance abuse issues. All the services of the Recovery Centers are free of charge. It does not matter if a person is or was connected to a mental health agency or provider, it does not matter if a person was ever diagnosed with a mental health issue, it does not matter if a person was or was not hospitalized. Our doors are open to everyone and anyone who feels they belong and wants to join a recovery community. For a short video of what an RLC is, please view this video from the Western Mass RLC. Each RLC has it’s own model to support the specific cultural needs of their area, and the Metro Boston RLC was designed to utilize pre-existing mental health/social service agencies to help accomplish their mission of providing state of the heart as well as state of the art, peer-run services that are trauma-sensitive and person-centered. The MBRLC is made up of financial and non-financial partnerships throughout Metro Boston. Imagine a wagon wheel, with the MBRLC as the hub with different resource centers and other programs and services as the spokes. The entity who has financial oversight is the Boston Medical Center, recipient of the initial three year RLC contract from the Department of Mental Health. Currently the MBRLC has six major services. We have four Recovery Centers: The Boston Resource Center (BRC), the Cambridge-Somerville Recovery Learning Center (CSRLC), the Peer Education Resource Center (PERC) and the Hope Center. These centers offer a dedicated space for peers to drop in and partake in classes, groups and other activities. Each Recovery Center is a little bit different, the BRC and the Hope Center offers classes, groups as well as access to fitness centers; the CSRLC focuses on education whereas the PERC focuses on employment. The fifth major service is the North Suffolk Transitional Employment program (NSTE). In this program, peers who are clients of a North Suffolk CBFS team, work in jobs within a supported environment with the goal of part-time or full-time employment as a next step. Each TE program member is supported by a Peer Specialist as well as by the TE Coordinator. The sixth major service is the Peer Warm Line. The peer warm line, is a compassionate telephone support and referral service staffed by Peer Operators and managed by a Peer Coordinator. Another partner of the MBRLC is the National Alliance on Mental Illness – Massachusetts chapter (NAMI-MA). Through NAMI-MA and it’s local and only peer-run affiliate, NAMI Greater Boston/Consumer Advocacy Network (NAMI GB/CAN) various programs and services are offered. NAMI-MA trains MBRLC staff in facilitating NAMI Connections Groups. Connections groups are peer facilitated structured support groups. NAMI also has the In Our Own Voice (IOOV) outreach and education program, that hires peers to present their recovery story and discuss there life managing mental health issues, the challenges and successes. The MBRLC also offers the resources of the Jonathan O. Cole, MD, Mental Health Consumer Resource Center (The Cole Center) at McLean Hospital in Belmont. The Cole Center is the first peer run resource center in the United States. The MBRLC staff receive consultation on management, strategic planning, project development and peer-coaching.
A Peer-run program of Boston Medical Center
Major funding for the Metro Boston RLC is provided by the MA Department of Mental Health 
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