What is ARO?

ARO stands for Active Recovery Outreach. As the name implies, we care about people in recovery, like to stay active, and want to help others. We do this in many ways, but we primarily focus on providing people with the new playgrounds and playmates they need to recover.

What does this look like? Well, it's mainly a lot of fun for real. We do things like hiking, camping, paintball, roller skating, concerts, movies, paddleboarding, game nights, park days, and anything else people want. Here’s the kicker: We do it all sober with others in recovery.

You can think of us as the meeting after the meeting, but instead of hanging out in some church parking lot with people from a meeting or two, we’re floating down the Cahaba with people from various different fellowships, backgrounds, and recovery paths.

Our mission is to provide a supportive space for those who are seeking to overcome addiction and achieve lasting recovery through physical activity, mindfulness, and connection with others. We believe that the path to recovery is not a one-size-fits-all journey, and that’s why we are committed to offering a variety of activities, resources, and information to support you in finding the approach that works best for you. We encourage you to share your experiences, ask questions, and connect with others in our community. Let’s work together to break the stigma around addiction and build a healthier, happier future.

Our Mission

 FAQs

  • Absolutely not. We want to help you recover, no matter what that looks like to you.

  • No, we are a bit different than that. Although several of our members do attend 12 step meetings (and love them), our organization is more concerned about providing you with a community of like minded individuals to learn, grow and do fun sh!t with.

  • No! We don’t have any dues or fees. In fact, if you want to attend our events but can not afford them, we can almost always find a generous member of the recovery community who is happy to pay it forward. Meaning, you can be broke as a joke and still smoke. Eh, you know what we mean lol.

  • We normally have at least one completely free event each month, because we totally get the financial struggle that is early recovery for a lot of us. If you can not afford an event but wish to attend, let us know in advance and we can usually find a generous member of the recovery community who would be happy to help.

  • We post all events on our Facebook Group. You can also find events here.

  • Yes! We believe that recovery is a process that affects the entire family. Although most of our events are later in the evening, you are welcome to bring ANYONE who has a heart or a hope for recovery. We occasionally have events geared towards families, but you are free to hop on our Facebook group and invite the community and their families to join yours at the park, McWayne Center, Six Flags, etc.

  • Well, we aren’t gonna make you! The only thing we will ever force you to do is leave, and that’s only if you are intoxicated or are making people uncomfortable with your “creepiness”. You are always more than welcome to attend ALL of our events and the only requirements we have are that you treat everyone with dignity and respect their anonymity, recovery path, and personal space!

  • Attendees who are currently enrolled in the Jefferson County Drug Treatment Program (aka on TASC) may receive five hours off of their community service requirements for each event they attend. Get with your case manager to learn more. Currently, this is the only court that we have such an agreement with in the area.

  • Honestly, just let us know. There are SO MANY amazing people in the recovery community, that want to pay the kindness that was once shown to them, that we can almost always find one to cover you.

  • No, definitely not. We just want to see you succeed. However, for the safety of the other participants we ask that you not attend our events when you are obviously intoxicated. Instead, we ask that you reach out to us so that we can provide you with the resources you need to stop using and start living free from the shackles that are addiction.

  • Depends, are you obviously intoxicated and looking for purses to steal? Or did you just smoke a joint after work? Or maybe, you simply took your prescription suboxone this morning? The point is, there are many ways people define things like “relapse”, “high” and “using”. We don’t get into all that, we support you no matter what recovery looks like to you. Having said that, if you are obviously intoxicated, making people uncomfortable or appear to be doing sketchy sh!t you will definitely be asked to leave.

  • Absolutely! You are always free to go to our Facebook group and invite people to join you for whatever you may be doing (within reason of course). If you would like to suggest an activity as an official ARO event reach out to the team here and let us know.

  • We do, but they aren’t quite like the meetings you may be thinking of. We more or less just hang out and talk on zoom. The only rules we have are don’t be a dick and no religious rants.

  • Listen, we get it. Most everyone in recovery had an aversion to “God” when they arrived. For that reason we try to keep the specific higher power talk to a minimum. We respect everyone’s faith, or lack of it, and will stop anyone who is trying to “hammer” you with their religion.