Detroit Recovery Project — Free Substance Use Recovery Peer Support — Detroit, MI
The Detroit Recovery Project (DRP) is a Detroit-based nonprofit providing free peer recovery support services to community members navigating substance use and co-occurring mental health concerns. Founded in 2005 in partnership with the City of Detroit Bureau of Substance Prevention, Treatment and Recovery, DRP serves predominantly the African American community of Detroit with culturally competent, holistic, peer-led recovery support — including mutual aid groups, recovery coaching, housing and employment assistance, and Recovery Resource Centers across the city.
What to Expect
DRP’s Peer Recovery Coach program connects participants with someone who has personal lived experience in substance use recovery — a peer who provides ongoing guidance, support, and understanding through the early and long-term work of recovery. Mutual aid groups meet at DRP’s Eastside Health and Wellness Recovery Resource Center and other locations across Detroit, offering peer-led space for community members at every stage of recovery. DRP also runs recovery housing assistance, employment readiness, family-engagement programs, and culturally grounded community programming designed by and for Detroiters in recovery.
Who This Group Is For
DRP serves adult Detroit residents working through substance use, addiction, and co-occurring mental health concerns — particularly community members of color often underserved by mainstream recovery spaces. Members include people leaving treatment, people in early recovery, people years into sobriety wanting community, and family members supporting loved ones. DRP welcomes Detroiters regardless of insurance status, income, or whether they have engaged with formal treatment.
Why Peer Support Works
Detroit’s recovery community has long depended on community-led, culturally grounded peer support — and DRP is one of the most established organizations carrying that work forward. Peer recovery coaches who themselves are from Detroit and in long-term recovery bring something that clinical providers alone often can’t: genuine cultural credibility, lived knowledge of the city, and the steady presence of a peer who knows the road.
How to Join
DRP services are free. Visit recovery4detroit.com to learn about programs, find Recovery Resource Center locations, and request peer recovery support. The organization can also be reached by phone through the contact information on the site.