Equal SRQ

10/17/2026

10/11/2026

Come paint with us! 🍂🎨 Equal SRQ
TOMORROW! Monday, October 12th
1260 12th St (Historical Society of Sarasota County FL
5:30 pm
Join us for a cozy evening of watercolor, creativity, and connection as we create a beautiful autumn pumpkin patch together. We’ll take it step by step, so no painting experience is needed—just come ready to play with color, try something new, and enjoy the process.
There’s no pressure to make it perfect. Watercolor is about letting go a little, seeing what unfolds, and making something that is completely your own.
Come as you are. Paint, relax, connect, and have some fun with us. 🎃 Food and beverages provided! Sign up here: https://forms.gle/XTKcLYAZsEBdLbXz9

10/11/2026

Equal SRQ’s next Recovery Discovery: Pumpkins & Possibilities is all about making room for something we sometimes forget we need—fun.
Come carve, paint, create, laugh, get a little messy, and enjoy being together. No artistic skill needed, no pressure to make anything perfect, and no deeper meaning required. Sometimes play is enough.
Monday, October 19 at 5:30 PM
2035 Fruitville Rd
Come as you are, choose a pumpkin, and let yourself play. 🍂✨ Sign up here: https://forms.gle/HqSV2cs3WpEdYBy4A

10/11/2026

Friday morning, we spent a few hours living someone else’s month.

At Project 180 Reentry’s Reentry Simulation, each of us took on the life of a person just released from incarceration. The clock was short and the to-do list was long: get an ID, find a job, keep a roof overhead, make it to probation, pass the drug test, pay the fees, get food on the table. Every errand needed a bus pass, a document, or money we didn’t have yet.

It didn’t take long to fall behind. One missed step led to another, and the consequences stacked up faster than the solutions.

As peers, many of us know this maze firsthand, or have walked alongside someone in it. The simulation was a powerful reminder that falling short is often about the system, not the person’s effort. When the path back has this many locked doors, “just do the right thing” isn’t enough. People need support, time, and a community willing to open some of those doors.

That’s why we do this work. Recovery and reentry both depend on the same thing: someone believing you can rebuild, and making room for you to do it.

Thank you to Project 180, Goodwill Corporate Campus Bradenton, One Stop Housing, and the Florida Department of Corrections for creating such an eye-opening experience. We left with more empathy and more resolve.

Second chances only work if they’re real chances.

10/11/2026

$96 million for Treatment First. Five days later, a 57-study review found Housing First consistently does better at one thing: keeping people housed. The timing deserves attention.

On October 2, HHS announced STREETS funding for eight communities, including Miami-Dade County, Detroit and Houston. Each will receive $3 million a year for four years to address homelessness, addiction and serious mental illness, with an emphasis on treatment engagement. Houston plans a medical respite and recovery center staffed in part by lived-experience community health workers who help participants navigate services and stay connected to treatment. That part is especially interesting.

On October 7, Addiction Science; Clinical Practice published a review of 57 studies of housing-based support models. Housing First consistently improved housing stability compared with treatment-contingent approaches. Results for substance use and mental health were mixed. The researchers recommended expanding low-barrier housing while integrating voluntary treatment, mental healthcare and harm reduction. That distinction matters. Housing First is not treatment without housing. Treatment First is not housing without treatment. The real differences are access, requirements and sequencing.

Where peer recovery support fits: Someone leaving the hospital with a substance use disorder needs treatment. They also need a safe place to sleep, rides to appointments and help navigating unfamiliar systems. What happens when housing depends on treatment participation, and unstable housing makes participation difficult? That is a practical problem, not just a policy debate. Because STREETS links housing assistance to treatment engagement, implementation matters.
Peer recovery organizations can spot barriers before they become reasons someone disengages, and offer relationships that carry across treatment, housing and community services.
Measure more than admissions: Success shouldn’t be measured by enrollment alone. We need to know whether participants: obtain stable housing, stay engaged with treatment, build recovery capital, reduce repeated crisis-system use, stay connected even if they first decline treatment.
That is how we tell a recovery system from a referral system. Housing matters. Treatment matters. Peer relationships matter. Maybe the better question isn’t which comes first. It’s whether our systems can meet people’s needs in the order those needs arise. Recovery requires more than access to services. It requires a way to stay connected to them.
Further Reading:
- Addiction Science; Clinical Practice (October 7, 2026). Review of 57 Studies on Housing-Based Support Models
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). STREETS Funding Opportunity and Program Requirements (SM-26-019)

10/09/2026

See you at Diverse Fest today!

EqualSRQ will be at Diverse Fest 2026 and we’d love for you to stop by our table! Come say hi, learn about our peer recovery support, and enter our raffle for a chance to win a beautiful basket put together by our very own Angie Johnston! 💜

Saturday, October 10, 2026
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
3650 17th Street, Sarasota, FL 34235
☔ Rain or shine, it’s indoors!

Enjoy a full day of:
- 🎶 Live entertainment from Azara Ballet, DJ Brianna Lee, Georgia Moore, and Harvest Band
- Dozens of local nonprofits, businesses, and community organizations
- Delicious eats from Simply Greek by Wynberry, Flava Kingdom, Chasin Chicken, Hudson and Honey, Myrtle’s Sweets and Treats, The Shish Kabob Factory, and more!

Bring your friends, bring your family, and come celebrate the diversity that makes our community stronger. Don’t forget to swing by the EqualSRQ table to enter the raffle!

10/07/2026

Trying to cook up the grub before the heavans open. Who's swinging by for a grab and go container.

10/07/2026

Due to the thunderstorms expected this evening, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel Chill N Grill.
We’ll have to-go boxes available for pickup starting at 5 PM for anyone who would still like to pick up dinner.
Thank you so much for your understanding!

10/05/2026

Who's coming Fri?

10/05/2026

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and we were grateful to start it in community. 💜

On Saturday, Equal SRQ joined Queens of Domestic Violence Awareness and Streets of Paradise Inc. for Thrive Together, a Domestic Violence Awareness & Community Resource Night.

Domestic violence rarely shows up alone. Someone finding safety may also need housing, medical care, recovery support, and a person who understands how hard it is to start over. When partners share one room, a neighbor can find several doors at once.

Thank you to everyone who made the night possible: Queens of Domestic Violence Awareness, Streets of Paradise, Priorities 1st of Manasota, Unify Health & Wellness, Help-Us Help-U, Out & About with Tyler Butler, Oxford House, and Saving the Sunshine State.

A big thank you to Addie Klein and Laura Lee Winn for representing EqualSRQ so well, sharing recovery resources, Narcan, and our Seeking Safety peer support group with everyone who stopped by. Job well done! 🙌

This month and all year, you deserve safety, dignity, and support. If you or someone you love needs help, you don't have to figure it out alone.

📞 National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788 (free, confidential, 24/7).

Together We Can. 💚