Restorative Recovery

Welcome

TRAUMA INFORMED RESTORATIVE RECOVERY

Trauma, including developmental or attachment can leave unseen marks we carry.  Other mental health, relational issues, substance use or abuse or simply life stress and complications leave marks the body carries too.

In recovery, we find our inner self, an autonomous—which means whole—place untouched.  From this place, limitless resource and potential can be restored. Recovery begins here, inside us. 

EMBODIMENT

Body first is a philosophy informed by what is now understood about the connection of the brain, body, stress and trauma.  Restorative recovery aims to recover agency and increase capacity in the body; and grow mental, emotional and spiritual awareness in your inner life.  In modern mental health, agency and resiliency are key.

At the Delmarva Free School connection to the natural environment for restoration is a pillar of what we do.  Nature regulates the body.

Come visit our outdoor sanctuary, including our forest classroom, cozy sacred spaces like our four-season tent or the memorial garden inner sanctum, and other quiet, sacred places we tend. 

GREAT CYPRESS SWAMP & HABITAT RESTORATION

We are located in Wicomico County on the lower shore of Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula. Our sanctuary includes 9 acres at the edge of a few thousand wild acres of conservation forests, known as Chesapeake Forests.  

This habitat was once a part of the Great Cypress Swamp.  Bald cypress swamp ecosystem here is a bio-regional marker of the cultural south; it is a critical headwater of the Pocomoke river, and an integral part of the lower Chesapeake watershed. Our community is actively working to improve this bald cypress region with a variety of habitat restoration projects.    

Join us, with the support of our partners, as we install an acre and a half perennial pollinator meadow and a native food forest with mindful sacred corners.

ACCESS AND INCLUSIVITY

The Delmarva Free School practices a pay-it-forward model. Attempting to be mindful of access and as economically inclusive as possible, we consider ourselves a member-based recovery co-op.  Pay it forward/full paying direct service members supplement our sliding scale and scholarship direct service memberships.  Priority for sliding scale and scholarships are reserved case by case, please inquire.  We are an LGBTQ+ safe community.   

We are a committed intentional land use community.  DFS takes seriously the honor of being but stewards of the earth while we are here.  We are located on the lower shore of Delmarva, and acknowledge the legacy of Pocomoke, Algonquin and other native ancestors, and African and Black ancestry historically responsible for tending this Land. As a primarily white organization in this geographic location we take responsibility to be thoughtfully, proactively Anti-Racist, Pro-Black, and Pro-People of Color and to co-create spaces where this perspective is actively embodied.  This is an ecopsychological perspective grounded in place-making and liberatory restoration.

We offer community events that are open to the general public and welcome anyone interested in what we are doing to stop by.  Text Kelly on the FS line 443 493 3985 to pay us a visit. Becoming a Friend of the Free School with out receiving direct services is that easy.

The Delmarva Free School takes a proactive stance as a creator of safe sacred spaces: as reflected in the Extended Vision Statement portion of our Bylaws, safe sacred spaces honors all individuals indiscriminate of class, race, age, ability, gender/non binary, sex/sexuality, heritage, religious affiliation or none as sacred and sovereign.

Become a direct service member and enjoy restorative recovery sessions and sanctuary regularly by scheduling an intake. 

Text Kelly on the Free School line at 443 493 3985 to learn more or set up a visit or intake, or email Kelly@thedelmarvafreeschool.com

Improving Community Green Spaces here at the Free School has been made possible in coordination with the Chesapeake Bay Trust through initiatives with Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake and the Lower Shore Land Trust.  Funding provided by Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the United States Environmental Protection Agency Region III.