Our Vision
Transforming lives through sustained recovery.
Our Mission
The Council offers hope and support to reduce the impact of addiction by providing resources and creating opportunities for the entire community which guide the journey of recovery.
Our History
The Council of Southeast Pennsylvania, Inc. was founded on September 15, 1975, as the Bucks County Council on Council on Alcoholism. A study group that included Denver Lindley, Jr., Samuel W. Carnwath, Thomas E. Colgan, Christine Jones, Richard I. Moore, Esq., and Don Whitney was formed in November 1974, to explore mobilizing concerned citizens to effect changes in attitudes toward the disease of alcoholism. Since then, The Council has had a long and distinguished history of designing and delivering creative program to best fit the needs of our population and helps fulfill our vision of “Transforming Lives Through Sustained Recovery.”
The Bucks County Commissioners agreed to lease to The Council its first meeting place for $1.00 per year. Six months later, initial funding was granted to The Council by the Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission, and in 1977 the United Way of Bucks County accepted The Council as a member participating agency. The Council has had its headquarters in Doylestown throughout its history and has been at the current location on West Swamp Road since 2017.
The Council began with a staff of two, including founding Executive Director Beverly Haberle, who served in that role until she retired in 2018, and Jennifer King has served since that time. The agency has seen steady growth, and now employs close to 100 full and part-time staff, and benefits from the service of many passionate volunteers. The Council provides programming in Bucks, Chester, Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties and operates four recovery community centers: the Montgomery County Recovery Community Center (MCRCC), the Philadelphia Recovery Community Center (PRCC), and the Southern Bucks Recovery Community Center (SBRCC), as well as the Women’s Recovery Community Center (WRCC), and maintains program offices in Chester County. The WRCC is also a Recovery House for up to 11 women, which is licensed by Pennsylvania’s Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP).
The Council provides a wide range of services to families, schools, businesses, individuals and the community at large, and has always done so regardless of a participant’s ability to pay, ethnicity, race, gender, age and/or sexual orientation. In 2010, The Council updated its name to more accurately reflect both the participants and growing region we serve and has since been The Council of Southeast Pennsylvania, Inc.
As we developed the first Recovery Community Organization in our area, The Council has hosted Pennsylvania Recovery Organization – Achieving Community Together (PRO-ACT) since 1998. PRO-ACT is an internationally recognized model for supporting all pathways to recovery and embraces the Recovery-Oriented System of Care (ROSC) model, which is a person-centered, strengths-based and self-directed approach to care leading to sustained health, wellness and recovery from alcohol and drug problems. PRO-ACT is one of the oldest peer-driven and peer-led Recovery Community Organizations in the country, and it has continuously been led by and staffed with persons in recovery. They share in an orientation process and ongoing training that embraces the culture and language of recovery and are similarly trained to provide culturally appropriate recovery support services. PRO-ACT is a recognized model for supporting all pathways to recovery and embraces the Recovery-Oriented System of Care (ROSC) model, which is a person-centered, strengths-based and self-directed approach to care leading to sustained health, wellness and recovery from alcohol and drug problems. In 2022, PRO-ACT was re-accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Peer Recovery Support Services.
The Council currently provides a wide range of services in the area of Prevention, Training and Education, Intervention, Intensive Case Management, Criminal Justice, Family Programs, and Recovery Support Services provided through PRO-ACT. A new initiative in 2023, The Council was selected by DDAP to serve as the Regional Recovery Hub for Region 1 – Philadelphia, and Region 4 – Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Montgomery and Schuylkill Counties. Aimed at increasing the knowledge and capacity of recovery support services throughout these two regions, the Hubs provide free recovery support service training and technical assistance to all requesting stakeholders.