Our Story & Mission
Who We Are
Turning Point Center of Central Vermont is a peer-led recovery center in Central Vermont. Founded in 2003, we are here for anyone who needs substance use recovery support. It doesn't matter where you are in your journey, what path you're on or what you've been through. We’re not a treatment clinic. We’re a community.
For more than twenty years, we have been showing up for people in Barre and across Central Vermont.
Our Mission
Our mission is to help people find, maintain and enhance their substance use recovery by providing peer-based recovery supports to individuals and families; conducting educational programs that aid in building and enriching a healthy life; and maintaining a safe haven for sober recreation and social activities.
We support all pathways to recovery.
Recovery Is More Than Stopping
Recovery isn't just about stopping. It's about rebuilding your life: your relationships, your routines, your sense of who you are. That belief shapes everything we do.
At Turning Point, you lead. There’s no single right way forward, and we don't push any one approach. We offer a team of people who have been there and resources you can actually use. You don't have to explain yourself to be welcomed here.
Grounded in Lived Experience
Every person on our team has their own experience with recovery. That's something you can't learn in a classroom. We show up not as experts, but as peers who know what it's like to be in that moment and find a way through.
Our team comes from all kinds of backgrounds and recovery journeys. That means it's usually easy to find someone you connect with, someone who truly gets it.
A Low-Barrier Community Hub
Turning Point is built to be easy to walk into. There are no fees for our services. We work to remove every barrier between a person and the help they need.
We offer recovery coaching, peer support groups, family support, community meetings, and help connecting to local resources. Peer support and lived experience are at the center of everything we do. Whether you are just starting out, supporting someone you love, or figuring out your next step, there is a place for you here.
Our Roots in Central Vermont
Turning Point Center of Central Vermont was among the first recovery centers in Vermont when it opened in 2003, part of an early cohort that eventually grew into a statewide network of twelve centers.
In 2010, funding gaps and limited nonprofit infrastructure forced the center to close for six months. It reopened with a new executive director, Bob Purvis, who successfully led and grew the organization until March of 2025. Rosemary Rosa joined as executive director in March 2025.
That history matters. Turning Point Center of Central Vermont has faced real pressure and come back stronger. Since reopening, it has grown across every dimension — programs, services, and the number of people supported across Central Vermont.
Vermont has one of the highest drug use rates in the country. Communities like Barre, Vermont have felt that deeply. We were founded here because this community needed more than a program. It needed a place where people could come as they are, without judgment.
More than twenty years later, we are still here. Still peer-led. Still showing up.
Our Values
What guides us in every conversation, every group, every referral:
-
Inclusion: Everyone is welcome, wherever they are in their journey.
-
Compassion: Support is offered with empathy, not judgment.
-
Accessibility: Low-barrier by design, always.
-
Peer Leadership: Lived experience is our credential.
-
Trust: We take confidentiality seriously. What you share, stays here, with the limited exceptions required by law as mandated reporters.
-
Dignity: Every person who walks through our door is treated with respect, full stop.
Supporting the Work
Our services are free to the people we serve. That's only possible through grants and the support of donors. If you believe in this work, we'd love your help keeping it going.
Recovery starts with connection. We're here when you're ready.
Whether you're looking for support, want to connect a loved one with resources or just want to know what's available — reach out. There's no wrong time to start.