Tammy and Chris Cotton share a laugh with the crowd gathered for the grand opening of the L.I.T.E. Recovery Café late September in Milford.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — Much has happened for Living In Transition Effectively, in the past year especially, and Executive Director and Founder Tammy Cotton shared that information with the Kosciusko County Council Thursday, Feb. 8.

“In 2023, we opened a women’s recovery home in Milford. We became an RCO, which is a Recovery Community Organization designation through the state IRN, which is the Indiana Recovery Network, and Mental Health America of Indiana. We also were asked by the state to become a regional recovery hub, which means we oversee St. Joe, Elkhart, Cass, Marshall, Fulton and Kosciusko counties as far as providing services to those counties for people in recovery to connect them to services such as mental health services, recovery, treatment, those kind of things,” Cotton said.

L.I.T.E. also opened a recovery café. She said they had to apply and “do a lot of hard work” to get that up and going.

According to a copy of the café’s schedule she provided, it opens at 4 p.m. Tuesdays, with new member introductions at 4:55 p.m., celebration of good times at 5 p.m., mealtime at 5:15 p.m., chore board at 5:45 p.m., recovery circle at 6 p.m., school for recovery classs at 7 p.m. and the café closes at 8 p.m. On Fridays, it opens at 11 a.m. and follows the same schedule but with closing at 3 p.m. Saturdays, the schedule starts at 9 a.m. and closes at noon.

“All of that is located in Milford. We attained the Methodist Church there that closed in 2021. We’ve been using that building. That’s where our offices are, that’s where the recovery home is, that’s where the café is, everything is in that building,” Cotton said.

She stated they also have a lot of exciting things coming down the pipe.

“We do have staff. I have been able to add staff, so myself, I’m the executive director. I’m also a community health worker, which is a certification, and I have three peer recovery coaches that are trained and certified. A Level II peer recovery coach, she’s also a peer supervisor, and she manages the café,” she said.

L.I.T.E. is also involved in the community.

“We don’t just serve Milford. We serve the whole county, and we are here to help. We started working with people in the jail, and then we are here for them when they get out, to help with housing, transportation, employment, all of those kind of things,” she said.

L.I.T.E. is planning a community event hopefully this year, she said, and are starting a harm reduction initiative. They’re working with the county coroner and several other entities on creating a suicide, overdose and fatality review team, which is something Cotton said she’s wanted to do for several years and she’s writing a grant for that. If that grant is received, Cotton said hopefully they’ll start the review team in March.

“We’re providing training, such as Narcan. We have a certified Narcan trainer. So we’re just trying to do a lot. Not only helping those in recovery and those struggling, but also helping our community to learn and grow and understand mental health and addiction better,” she stated.

Councilwoman Kathy Groninger asked if the recovery home was just for women. Cotton said it was, but her vision is to open a men’s recovery home but they do cost money.

Asked by Groninger if the café was for women and men, Cotton said it’s open to anyone. “We believe that everyone is recovering from something, and we believe in all pathways to recovery. So when the recovery café is open, which is three days a week, we provide a meal. We provide a small group, which is called a recovery circle. We provide classes. And then — we’re open four hours — we have an hour of just come in, chill, relax. We have games, we have chess, checkers. We have a computer if they need to look for jobs, whatever. We have a basic needs bank,” she said.

They provide a safe space of community for people.

Cotton said the café has grown to over 30 members currently. It’s a membership-based program, but everything is free. Member requirements are that they are sober when they are in the space, that they give back and they attend a recovery circle once a week.

There’s also a member financial assistance program. Once a person has been a member for 60 days, they can get financial assistance for rent and utilities, with funds coming from Recovery Works dollars. It’s $2,500 per person, Cotton said.

Councilwoman Sue Ann Mitchell asked if transportation was an issue. Cotton said it is the biggest issue but The Beaman Home last week donated a passenger van they weren’t using.
“But we’re going to quickly outgrow that,” she said.

L.I.T.E.’s address is 210 W. Catherine St., Milford; phone number is (574) 306-0006; and website can be found at Literecoveryhub.org. They also can be found on Instagram and Facebook.