CONNECTICUT’S FIRST BLACK-OWNED,
FAITH-BASED, & PEER-LED
RECOVERY community ORGANIZATION
RECOVERY
HAS NO
LIMITS
New Life II Recovery Community Organization
Housing • Peer Support • Education
This is a safe place to be discipled. To learn how to rebuild relationships and be unified with your family. To begin to go from fear to hope…and see a glimpse of who you really are.
Download Our PDF Brochure Here
We are More than just Recovery Housing
New Life II provides a safe place for transformation and the training to navigate difficult real-life situations with grace, hope, and triumph. We exist to serve you and provide the tools you need to build self-reliance and personal development, and to lead you on a path of health and a different life.
New Life II is a leading provider of comprehensive recovery housing and peer services for individuals in the greater New Britain area. Our ministry is a critical source of intensive, person-centered addiction recovery, combined with safe, affordable, drug-and alcohol-free housing.
We provide non-clinical, peer-to-peer support to people whose lives have been affected by addiction, incarceration, trauma, and other life changing situations. Our team is comprised of individuals who draw from their own diverse experiences and backgrounds to build meaningful relationships. Participants in our ministry come from throughout the state of Connecticut. The work we do is flexible and designed to meet the individual where they are in their recovery, with enthusiasm and understanding, and without pressure or judgment.
Our vision
We envision a world where people are provided the resources, services, and training that educate, empower and motivate everyone to walk into freedom from the struggles of mental health and addiction into seasons of Grace, Hope, and Wellness ensuring a different and New Life.
Our Mission
Our mission is to transform neighborhoods by equipping and empowering individuals that are caught in cycles of hopelessness, disenfranchisement, dependency on drugs and/or alcohol, or mental health struggles to build self-reliance, sustainable development, and continued upward mobility.
We believe the most powerful way to do this is collectively – by working together with the faith-based community, other service providers, elected officials, and businesses, transforming from fear to hope one person at a time.
Our Promise
To provide a home-like residence with independent living. To offer individual and group sessions in addition to a safe, drug-free environment, where individuals can learn skills needed to restore balance in the home. To teach skills that will assist them in overcoming the challenges that have been causing them to struggle.
New Life II in the News
Published on Thursday, 1 December 2022 12:19
Written by Erica Drzewiecki
NEW BRITAIN – A pair of local worship leaders are working to ensure that if a drug overdose occurs inside a bodega or barbershop the antidote is there and staff are trained to use it.
Husband-and-wife Pastors Dana and Evelyn Smith were both “in that place” more than 20 years ago and that’s precisely why their missionary work in the community focuses on helping those who are unable to help themselves.
Co-Executive Directors of New Life II, the Smiths named their recovery and community center at 117 Main St. after the original New Life center in New Britain, where they both found sobriety and the path to happy and healthy lives.
It’s Not a program, but a process
New Life II gives its participants more than just a plan to follow – we walk with them through their healing process with the support of a recovery community. We believe a healthy, supportive community is vital to recovery. Through peer support and training, our recovery community helps them develop the resources, personal skills, and practices necessary to re-enter society as sober, responsible, and contributing citizens. Growing these resources is the central focus of our ministry. The ultimate benefit we provide is equipping individuals in recovery to thrive in a recovery lifestyle.
You are not in this alone
Many people who struggle with addiction do not begin using a substance or engaging in destructive behavior with the intent to become addicted. Rather, over time, they find themselves stuck in a cycle and feeling out of control.
At New Life II, we are not here to judge. We are here to assist you.
Our recovery housing in New Britain, Connecticut provides safety, structure, and a foundation for a new and sustainable healthy lifestyle.
We connect you with direct support services, workshops, and peer support services. By offering you hands-on leadership, life skills, and educational training, we will equip you to navigate society successfully when you are ready for the next phase of your recovery.
Discover how a recovery community can change your life.
Our Services
“New Life II has helped me be a better person by giving me the structure I needed to prepare for a better life when I’m eventually on my own. The chores prepare me for an independent life. The weekly meetings address my problems head-on and the pastors provide much needed support.”
-Kenneth
From our directors
I’ve been homeless. People always told me that I’d always smoke crack or be a drunk. That I’d never amount to anything. I know what it’s like to sell my body, to pick up cigarette butts, to go to jail. But I also know what it’s like when someone doesn’t give up on you. When everybody else has given up on you and you’ve given up on yourself, to have that one person that won’t let you go…and you’re asking yourself why. Why would you do this for me?
And then, you start to see results in your life, and you start to realize that, while people may have labeled you a crackhead or an alcoholic, or whatever…those are just the things that you did. It’s not who you are. You’re here because you are yet to discover who you are. And that’s why I do what I do. It’s the gift God has given us, to give others the good things we’ve received ourselves. It’s why New Life II is here.
I do what I do because I know what it’s like. To feel, down, degraded. I know what it feels like to be on drugs. And I know what it feels like to not have support and to not know how to ask for support, for what you need.
Because I believe if people can say what they feel and feel free to do that, then they can actually get what they need, and not feel judged, and not feel as if their whole world is coming down. The worst of it all is not having a place to live. Although I don’t personally know what that feels like, it’s something I wouldn’t want to experience–to be on drugs, homeless and struggling with mental health.
But some people do come come through this and thrive, so I think the whole reason why I’m here is because I know that what we do works. I know how hard it is, and that you may feel like you’re climbing, trying to get clean, that it’s not happening and it’s not going to. But it’s not an overnight process. It takes a long time. We’re in it for the long haul.
We are all going through some type of healing. Always. That’s why we’re here, and we can do that together as a community.
Life is more than recovery housing.
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New Life II
Recovery Community Center & Reentry affairs
117 West Main Street
New Britain, CT 06052
860-371-8271 | 860-371-8287