Greetings from Refuge Recovery World Services,
We regretfully announce that with continued gathering bans in place through at least January of 2021, our 6th Annual Refuge Recovery Conference has now been rescheduled from the weekend of February 26th-28th, 2021, to the weekend of June 11th-13th, 2021. The conference will be held in Los Angeles at the Against the Stream Meditation Center in Venice Beach.
Our annual conferences are open to all Refuge Recovery members from around the world and are a chance to meet, to learn, to get inspired, to practice and to work with fellow members to create the next phase of Refuge Recovery group representation.
To learn more and register for the 6th Annual Refuge Recovery Conference
All existing conference registrations will be rolled over to the 2021 Conference. If you cannot join us for the new dates and desire a refund for a prior conference registration, please let us know.
All three days of the conference will offer the chance to meet and hear Refuge Recovery members as they share their experience, aspirations and ideas for how they are helping their groups to offer the best possible RR program in their areas.
Refuge Recovery World Services board members and staff will offer status reports and present our current plans and goals. The non-profit service group will facilitate workshops and other sessions to help all those doing service in Refuge Recovery.
Saturday will include a delegate assembly, where together we will begin the process of establishing a RR World Service Committee. This committee will be the future point of interaction between RR groups and the RR World Services board and staff.
Refuge Recovery conferences offer the chance to practice together. Noah Levine will be offering opportunities to sit with your worldwide sangha throughout the weekend.
In preparation for the June conference, Refuge Recovery World Services will be holding an Online Service Day on Sunday February 28th. All RR meeting secretaries, group representatives and others participating in group service will be invited to attend.
Covid-19 pandemic conditions have made our original 2020 plan of holding state level service conventions with RR group representatives unworkable. Instead, RR group reps will be delegates at the service portion of the June RR Conference. The delegates will be instrumental in the eventual creation of the first RR World Service Conference, which will become the democratic deliberative body of service for the Refuge Recovery movement. The RR World Services board urges all elected RR group reps to attend the annual conference in June and begin this work of creating the RR democratic service structure. If your group is not able to send a delegate this year, please know that you will be able to participate in the service discussion and delegate assembly online.
Noah Levine and Joseph Souhrada of RRWS have been working together to encourage and assist meeting members in holding elections for their group representatives. We encourage all members to participate in building sangha through service at local group business meetings and by attending both our February service day and our June annual conference. Please contact refugerecoveryworldservices@refugerecoverymeetings.org with your questions regarding group service or anything else.
We hope to see you in Los Angeles for three days of Refuge Recovery worldwide community building in June. All groups are encouraged to raise funds to send their representative. This will be one to remember. 2021 promises to bring a major turning point for RR, as we return to in-person meetings in large numbers, while simultaneously expanding our valuable network of online meetings that have kept RR alive and have brought so many new members into our community. The long-awaited second edition of the Refuge Recovery book also is in the works for 2021, with new stories and new lessons for recovery. Production of the feature documentary film about the people of RR is expected to be completed in 2021 as well. The June conference will be a key event of a pivotal year for our movement. Working together, we can help each other create the future of Refuge Recovery.
In Service,
Joseph Souhrada
Russ Smith
Rachael Savage
Noah Levine
Refuge Recovery World Services