Six months after opening its doors in Mount Dora, Recovery Centers of America is working to build partnerships throughout Central Florida while expanding the range of services available to people seeking treatment for substance use and mental health disorders.

The facility recently welcomed healthcare providers, nonprofit organizations, first responders and community partners for an open house designed to introduce them to the campus and encourage collaboration among agencies that serve people in recovery.

“We invite partners that we work with, whether it’s detox or aftercare,” CEO Patty Beckett says. “We work with a lot of different facilities to find the best option for the patient.”

Located on a 19-acre campus at 19650 U.S. Highway 441, the treatment center opened in January as Recovery Centers of America’s first Florida location. The facility currently provides medically supervised detoxification and residential treatment, with outpatient services expected to launch in the coming months. A primary mental health program is also planned later this year.

The 63,000-square-foot campus includes seven buildings surrounded by mature trees, walking paths and a peaceful pond where patients often spend quiet moments reflecting or journaling. Recreational amenities such as a swimming pool, basketball court and rock-climbing wall are also incorporated into the treatment environment, which Patty says was designed to promote healing as well as recovery.

Patty says having multiple levels of care available through one organization helps create a smoother transition for patients as they move through recovery.

“It gives the patients the time to work on their mental health,” she says. “Once they get stable, they can come over and join the substance abuse program. It’s a good transition for a whole continuum of care.”

Until outpatient and recovery housing services are in place, Patty says working closely with other organizations remains essential.

“It takes all of us,” she says. “It doesn’t just take one person or one facility. It takes an army.”

She says partnerships help ensure patients continue receiving support after leaving residential treatment instead of returning to the same environment that contributed to their addiction.

“The last thing you want to do is put the patient back in the exact same situation they were in when they came in,” Patty says.

The campus currently employs about 45 people and has the capacity to serve up to 132 patients across its various treatment programs. In addition to clinical care, the facility offers family education, support groups and an alumni program designed to help patients maintain long-term recovery after treatment ends.

For licensed practical nurse Margaret Mott, working at the facility is deeply personal.

Margaret entered recovery after struggling with addiction for years. She says she first began using drugs at age 12 after feeling like she never quite fit in. Although she came from what she describes as a good family, she spent years trying to find her place before eventually entering treatment in her early 30s.

She had already become a nurse but stepped away from the profession as her addiction worsened. After completing treatment and rebuilding her own life, she eventually found her way back to nursing, first volunteering with homeless outreach organizations before returning to addiction treatment.

“I found my way into doing this work,” Margaret says. “I’ll always be a part of this population, but now I’m on the other side.”

Today, she says that lived experience helps her connect with patients in ways that go beyond medical care.

“I know the good, the bad, the ugly,” Margaret says. “I know how to kind of navigate and help people through that.”

She says helping others discover recovery has given her life a sense of purpose she searched for many years.

“It feeds my soul,” Margaret says. “People don’t have to suffer. There is another way of life.”

Both Margaret and Patty hope the center also helps reduce the stigma that often prevents people from seeking treatment.

She says asking for help can be the hardest step, but it’s also the beginning of recovery.

“I want them to know that it’s okay,” Patty says. “It’s okay to feel different and it’s okay to feel like you’re the only one that’s suffering.”

Patty says many members of the Mount Dora staff bring either professional experience, personal recovery experience or firsthand knowledge of addiction through family members and loved ones. That combination, she says, creates a culture built on compassion as much as clinical care.

“You can’t teach compassion and you can’t teach people to be genuine,” Patty says. “When you walk around and talk to my staff, you can tell that every one of them is genuine.”

As the Mount Dora campus continues to grow, the facility recently launched a specialized program for healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and other licensed clinicians. The program is designed to address the unique professional and licensing challenges healthcare workers may face while seeking addiction treatment.

While services continue to expand, Patty says the center’s mission remains simple.

“Our primary purpose is to help the still-suffering addict and alcoholic,” she says. “I think above all, we love people back to life.”