MODERN RECOVERY ALLIANCE
Community operating charter and pilot handbook
Founding proposal 1.0 | Prepared for member discussion | 6 October 2026

STATUS AND SCOPE

This is a proposed operating model, not an adopted constitution or a clinically validated intervention. Its voting rules, schedules, age boundary, volunteer roles and retention periods are design choices for members to test and ratify. Research can inform MRA’s recovery principles; it cannot establish that these particular governance arrangements will work. Keep a public change log, review what actually happens, and change the design when experience warrants it. Explicit additions to the supplied materials include an adult pilot boundary, conduct-based access limits, voting eligibility, steward roles and independent review. These qualify the source’s unrestricted participation language and need explicit discussion. The proposed option to celebrate a personally meaningful abstinence anniversary also clarifies the source’s rejection of clean-time recognition; no source wording should be silently overwritten.

MRA’s purpose is to make it easier for people to improve their lives through respectful peer connection, reliable information and practical cooperation. Abstinence, prescribed medication including medications for opioid use disorder, professional treatment and harm reduction are compatible with participation. Members define their own goals. Nobody must disclose a diagnosis, medication list, legal name, trauma history or abstinence date to belong. Medical decisions belong with the person and their qualified care team; volunteers do not diagnose, prescribe, recommend doses or run detoxification.

The proposed first pilot is for adults aged 18 and over. This is a capacity boundary for an initially small volunteer team, not a judgment about whose recovery matters. Ask for age affirmation without collecting identification documents or dates of birth. If someone discloses that they are under 18, explain the boundary privately and help identify an appropriate youth service or trusted adult where safe. Do not abandon an immediate emergency while addressing membership. A youth service would require its own safeguarding design, trained leadership and local review before launch.

1. COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP THAT CAN BE OBSERVED

Community ownership means that members can propose changes, choose and remove stewards, inspect decisions and spending, and continue meeting without a founder’s permission or constant presence. It must not depend on buying a product, sharing the founder’s views or participating in a documentary. Origin can be acknowledged without granting permanent authority.

The Trap House can initially host an MRA founding workspace. Clearly label that area as provisional co-design, with its own conduct rules. A private channel inside an existing server is not an independent organization: anyone with sufficient platform permissions may retain access. Publish who has that access. Keep sensitive recovery conversations out of the founding workspace until a privacy and moderation arrangement has been explained.

Within the pilot, members should decide whether to open a dedicated MRA server with its own identity, account permissions, operating records and invitation route. Do not automatically copy member lists, personal stories, old messages or photographs from the existing community. Each person chooses whether to join. The original project may introduce MRA through an optional link; neither community owes the other publicity, money or access to its members.

Technical control and community authority are different. Publish the account currently holding server ownership and the extent of its technical power, using its community handle. Appoint a technical custodian accountable to the charter, document succession and arrange an explicit ownership transfer when the platform permits it. Give at least two separately authenticated, trained administrators the minimum access needed for continuity. Do not share passwords, authentication codes or recovery codes between volunteers. Export only nonsensitive operating documents; never treat a backup of members’ disclosures as routine governance material. If ownership cannot yet be transferred, state that limitation plainly rather than claiming independence is complete. Maintain a nonsensitive public charter and notice destination with authorized access for at least two independent stewards. If an owner refuses an adopted decision or remains unavailable, the community may authorize a new home through its structural decision procedure. Invite members only through previously consented contact routes. Do not copy histories or membership lists. This voluntary migration cannot compel the original owner to transfer the server and never requires sharing credentials.

No recovery discussion becomes book, music, promotional, training or documentary material by joining MRA. Support-room messages, recordings and case histories remain excluded from media, marketing, research and model training. After the pilot, a separately arranged interview or new creative contribution outside support may be considered under separate, specific and voluntary agreement about the material, audience and use; it must never be extracted from a support conversation. Refusing must have no consequence for support or governance. The default is no recording, screenshots or reposting of peer conversations. No purchases, affiliate commissions, sales funnels or required follows belong in support rooms.

2. A SMALL, ACCOUNTABLE GOVERNANCE SYSTEM

Start with three consenting interim stewards, each with a named backup task rather than an honorary title. Cover facilitation and accessibility; moderation and member care; and administration and records. Split duties as capacity grows. The founder may occupy one seat on the same terms as everyone else. No person decides a complaint about themselves or controls spending alone. Disclose relevant personal, financial and organizational conflicts; recuse from the affected decision and record the substitute decision-maker.

The initial interim term lasts no more than 90 days, matching the founding timetable. It cannot renew itself. If an election is not ready by day 90, members must explicitly authorize a limited caretaker mandate for essential safety and administration, publish the reason and a new election date, and pause expansion. An unfilled position does not silently become a permanent founder appointment. If too few volunteers remain, reduce the meeting schedule and pause expansion.

Proposed ordinary elections use six-month terms, with a maximum of two consecutive terms followed by at least three months off the steward team. Every consenting eligible member may nominate themselves. Each voter may approve up to three candidates; the three highest totals fill the seats, provided ordinary ballot quorum is met and each elected person receives at least two approvals. Leave any unfilled seat vacant. Resolve a tie for the last seat through a seven-day runoff. If fewer than three people volunteer, publish vacancies and retain only essential administration until a workable team is recruited. Care roles require orientation and conduct training; abstinence length is never a qualification.

A member can opt into the voting roll after 14 days, completing a short live or asynchronous orientation and affirming the charter. Offer an accessible alternative to any form. One person receives one vote. Use community handles; do not request medical proof or government identification. Two stewards may privately review credible duplicate-account concerns, with an appeal route. A person can receive support without registering to vote, attending meetings or performing unpaid labor. Supporters and professionals may join the roll on these same terms; professional status confers no additional votes. A meeting or contact restriction does not automatically remove voting or recall rights. Any restriction on governance access needs a separate documented conduct reason and independent review, with an accessible alternative ballot wherever feasible. Review the voter roll annually through an opt-in renewal with 30 days of notice; never remove people simply for needing time away during the pilot.

Publish the voting question, options, eligible-voter count and closing time before a ballot opens. Fix the eligible roll when notice is issued. Ordinary proposals receive seven days of discussion followed by seven days for voting, so shift workers and people who are unwell can participate. Read an accessible summary aloud if requested. Do not require a public explanation of an individual vote. Use a private ballot where the available method supports it, explain who can inspect it, and acknowledge that a very small group may still infer votes.

For five or more registered voters, an ordinary ballot needs participation from at least 25 percent of the roll, rounded upward, with a minimum of three participants. Abstentions count toward participation but not the yes/no denominator. Passage requires more yes than no and at least two yes votes. Charter changes, dissolution or transfer of core organizational assets require at least 40 percent participation, rounded upward, a minimum of five participants, and two-thirds of yes/no votes in favor, with at least three yes votes. These thresholds deliberately require wider agreement for structural decisions.

With three or four registered voters, all must participate and agree before a reversible pilot policy is adopted. Constitutional ratification waits until at least five voters are enrolled. With fewer than three, only necessary safety and routine administration may continue; do not make irreversible commitments in the name of a community mandate. When quorum fails, record “no decision,” collect reasons and reopen once after another seven days of notice. If participation still fails, keep the existing arrangement and narrow the proposal or pause the activity. Do not lower quorum after seeing an inconvenient result.

A single trained moderator may remove exposed personal data, end an unsafe session, or impose a narrow protective hold of no more than 24 hours when delay would increase danger. A second uninvolved reviewer must assess it within that period; any longer restriction requires a recorded reason and review date. Two uninvolved stewards may authorize other temporary protective or technical actions that cannot wait. Log its purpose, scope and review date within 72 hours without publishing sensitive details. Non-safety emergency policies expire after seven days unless the proper process confirms them. Protective restrictions follow the complaint timetable below and cannot be extended indefinitely without written review.

A recall request supported by the greater of two voters or 10 percent of the voting roll, rounded upward, triggers a seven-day response period and a seven-day recall ballot. Apply ordinary quorum and majority rules. The affected steward cannot administer that vote. A protective removal from duties during an investigation is distinct from final removal. Publish role vacancies and decisions without turning private complaints into public voting material.

3. CONDUCT, BOUNDARIES AND MUTUAL AID

Welcoming a person does not require accepting harmful conduct. Prohibit harassment, threats, discriminatory abuse, doxxing, coercive religious or political recruitment, selling or arranging drugs, and pressure to abandon prescribed treatment. People may discuss what helped them, including spiritual practices, while recognizing other pathways. Ask before offering advice. A return to use is a reason to offer support and reassess needs, not automatic expulsion; threats, unsafe conduct or persistent disruption may require a temporary pause regardless of substance-use status.

Do not rank people by sober time, education, income, diagnosis or proximity to the founder. Preserve the source proposal’s Milestone Tokens as optional acknowledgments chosen by members: asking for help, attending an appointment, finding housing, managing a difficult day or setting a boundary. No token is proof of health, authority or moral worth. A member may privately or publicly celebrate an abstinence anniversary if they choose, without making clean-time chips MRA’s status system. No public leaderboard, verified sobriety demand or loss of previous recognition after a setback.

Stewards, facilitators and mentors must not pursue sexual or romantic relationships with someone they currently support in that role. A conflict requires immediate withdrawal from the support or decision-making role; leaving a role does not erase earlier coercion or misuse of access. Prohibit grooming, unwanted sexual contact, quid-pro-quo help and repeated advances after refusal. Avoid a simplistic time-in-recovery test for consent: actual pressure, dependency and power matter.

Mutual aid must remain voluntary. Receiving help never creates an obligation to disclose, promote MRA, repay through labor, enter a relationship or vote a certain way. No loans, investment schemes, treatment-referral commissions or fundraising in support meetings. Begin with help locating services and exchanging skills; do not open a pooled fund until members approve a separate finance policy and suitable oversight. If funds are later accepted, require two unrelated approvers for payments, receipts, monthly aggregate reporting, conflict disclosures and a separation from all personal/project accounts. Disclose limits before asking for money; do not claim charitable status or tax deductibility without verification.

4. REPORTS, FAIR PROCESS AND PRIVACY

Offer at least two report routes: a private channel to the moderation team and an alternative contact outside the immediate steward chain. Publish who can read each route and their expected availability. A member may report anonymously or through a trusted person, recognizing that limited information can limit an investigation. Never demand a public confrontation or mediation with someone who harmed them. Retaliation, threats or loss of ordinary access for making a good-faith report are prohibited; an unsubstantiated report is not evidence of dishonesty.

Aim to acknowledge a report within two working days and provide a status update within seven. These are service targets for the pilot, not a 24-hour promise. Obtain only the information needed: relevant account handle, conduct, approximate time, immediate concerns and any existing evidence the reporter chooses to share. Do not ask someone to investigate further, reveal medical records or collect other members’ histories.

Two conflict-free reviewers assess urgency and proportionate safeguards. Options include changing contact permissions, separating meeting access or temporarily removing a person from duties. Explain the allegation and offer the respondent a reasonable chance to reply when doing so will not create additional immediate danger. Set a review date for restrictions, normally within seven days, and aim for a written outcome within 14 days; explain delays. Distinguish what is established, disputed and unknown. Outcomes may include guidance, role limits, time-limited suspension or removal. Use restoration only when affected people freely agree and it is suitable; never make forgiveness a condition of belonging.

Allow an appeal within 14 days on procedural unfairness, significant new information or disproportionate action. Use three reviewers who were not involved in the original decision, including pre-agreed external community reviewers when necessary. Share identifiable information externally only with an appropriate basis and clear notice; offer a redacted review wherever possible. Before opening sensitive peer-support activity, secure a named, consenting reviewer arrangement that can supply two conflict-free initial reviewers and three different appeal reviewers when needed. Publish the routes, availability and privacy limits; budget this time separately from ordinary weekly work. If independence is unavailable in a case, acknowledge the pending appeal, retain only proportionate time-reviewed protections, pause new support invitations, and recruit suitable review rather than pretending a founder’s second decision is an appeal. Target an appeal update within seven days and a decision within 21 days.

Proposed retention schedule: keep routine attendance only as anonymous totals; erase optional contact details within 30 days of withdrawal; erase resolved raw complaint evidence after 90 days unless an appeal or documented ongoing safety need requires a defined extension. Retain a minimal outcome record for 12 months, reviewed every three months, to support consistent restrictions. An active exclusion may require a minimal handle/reason/review-date record for its duration, with six-month reviews. Restrict access to designated reviewers, log access where the chosen system supports it and delete duplicate exports under MRA control. Before collecting sensitive complaint evidence, configure a restricted record system and explain its actual access and deletion capabilities. These policies cannot erase platform backups, other people’s DMs or unauthorized copies, or audit everyone who read a Discord message. Never describe these proposed periods as legal requirements. If a specific preservation duty or professional obligation applies, obtain qualified advice and document the exception.

Discord and other online services cannot guarantee confidentiality. Other participants may copy content despite the rules, and platform operators process data under their own terms. Say this plainly before sharing begins. Use pseudonyms, avoid identifying other people, and share only what feels appropriate. No public case summaries that allow the community to identify someone by deduction.

5. A WEEKLY MEETING PEOPLE CAN ACTUALLY RUN

After the readiness conditions below are met, pilot one 60-minute meeting weekly, with two prepared volunteers present. Preparation includes a scope-and-boundaries orientation, privacy briefing, cohost practice, and rehearsals for medication shaming, coercion, a complaint and an urgent safety event. This orientation is not certification as a peer specialist. [E06, E07, E15] The host facilitates; the cohost manages access, time and immediate concerns. Either can end the meeting if it cannot be safely facilitated. Publish accessibility options, content expectations and volunteer coverage beforehand. Cameras and speaking are optional. Allow people to pass, leave and return without explanation. Do not record or automatically transcribe peer disclosures.

0–5 minutes: welcome and agreements. Suggested opening: “You belong here without proving abstinence or telling your whole story. This is peer support, not medical care or an emergency service. Please protect each other’s privacy, ask before advising and leave room for different recovery paths. You can pass at any time.” Explain the report route and introduce both volunteers.

5–15 minutes: brief check-in. Each person may name how they are arriving and one thing they need; offer text participation and a pass. For a larger group, invite a limited number of shares rather than rushing everyone through disclosure.

15–25 minutes: practical theme. Offer one optional question from the Ten Foundations, such as noticing a pattern or identifying a next step. Treat the Foundations as revisitable invitations, not required sequential steps. “Share with someone you trust” never means compulsory confession. “Repair harm” must not require unsafe contact, exposure to abuse or decisions better considered with professional advice.

25–45 minutes: supported sharing. Ask: “Would you like listening, shared experience or ideas?” Give equal time, intervene respectfully in medication shaming or coercion, and bring detailed treatment questions back to qualified care. Never invite graphic drug-use instructions or competitive accounts of suffering.

45–55 minutes: optional next step and recognition. Ask: “What would make the coming week slightly more manageable?” Members may request practical help or name a milestone; peers need not assign a task or certify achievement.

55–60 minutes: close. Repeat the next meeting time, help routes and optional feedback question. Offer a brief cohost check-in for someone unsettled, within stated availability. Afterwards, volunteers review process and safety without creating case notes about every member.

Asynchronous participation must be equal in status. Post the week’s optional prompt, a plain-language resource summary and a way to submit governance feedback. Use an opt-in check-in channel with clear moderation hours. Members may reply privately to a facilitator or contribute nothing. Preserve decisions and useful public resources; do not compile recovery disclosures into searchable member profiles.

6. CRISIS RESPONSE AND CONTINUITY

This proposed US pilot is not a monitored crisis line. Display local-hours coverage and country-specific resources. For immediate medical danger, suspected overdose or a person who may act on an immediate threat, encourage contacting 911 or the relevant local emergency number without waiting for a moderator. For US emotional distress or suicidal crisis, 988 is an additional connection to crisis support. For suspected opioid overdose, advise emergency help and naloxone if available, following its instructions and dispatcher guidance. Members outside the US need their own emergency services and locally verified resources. See the CDC overdose response guidance and official 988 service information in the Evidence Companion. [E10, E11]

A volunteer responds calmly, invites urgent professional help and, if useful, asks whether a trusted nearby person can assist. Do not promise rescue, conduct remote detox, calculate safe doses or crowdsource treatment. Request precise location only when needed for an actual emergency response, privately and with explanation; do not routinely collect addresses. If imminent danger is credible and enough information exists, emergency contact may be appropriate. Share only what is necessary and document the decision minimally. Arrange a later voluntary check-in, not surveillance or compulsory proof of safety.

If the founder is absent, stewards follow the published roster, permissions and charter. If either required meeting volunteer is unavailable and no prepared replacement can attend, cancel with notice and provide resource links. Maintain a short handover containing upcoming commitments, permissions and outstanding governance tasks; access sensitive incidents only when the role requires it. No single person’s health, popularity or availability should be the organization’s operating plan.

7. LAUNCH, LEARN AND RATIFY

Days 1-14: prepare the founding discussion. Identify three interim stewards, publish the draft charter, map existing Discord access and choose two accessible reporting routes. Rehearse moderation and handover. This period offers co-design, not a promise of staffed recovery support.

Days 15-30: hold two bounded co-design sessions and an asynchronous discussion. Review the proposed mission, conduct rules, privacy limits and recognition system. Confirm at least two prepared meeting volunteers, a backup arrangement, actual moderation hours, the independent reviewer arrangement and an access-controlled complaint-record method. Do not open sensitive peer support until those conditions are met.

Days 31-60: run a four-week support pilot, at most one 60-minute meeting each week. Week one tests the welcome and pass option; week two tests a practical Foundation prompt; week three tests optional recognition; week four reviews what to continue, change or pause. Offer asynchronous participation throughout. Record anonymous attendance totals and optional feedback, not diagnoses or recovery histories. Train a non-founder host and confirm succession arrangements.

Days 61-90: review the pilot, ratify or amend the charter through the proposed eligibility and quorum rules, and elect the first ordinary stewards. Decide on independent hosting and financial arrangements. Publish a non-identifying account of changes and unresolved questions. Expansion requires member agreement and demonstrated operating capacity. If readiness or quorum is missing, defer the action; the calendar is not permission to bypass a requirement. These are operating tests, not evidence of treatment effectiveness.

Worked vote example: with 12 eligible voters, ordinary quorum is 3 and structural quorum is 5. An ordinary result of 2 yes, 1 no passes. A charter result of 3 yes, 1 no, 1 abstain passes because five participated, 3 of 4 yes/no votes support it, and there are at least three yes votes. A tie fails. If an election runoff ties again, leave the seat vacant, reopen nominations and use a documented caretaker arrangement without expanding powers.

8. COPY-READY WORKING TEMPLATES

Proposal: Title; problem; who is affected; proposed action; evidence or experience informing it; alternatives; accessibility and privacy effects; required people/money; conflicts; trial duration; review criteria; decision requested; notice and vote dates; recorded outcome.

Report: What happened? Which community handle or role was involved? Approximately when? Is there an immediate concern? What contact method feels safe? What outcome or protection would help? Evidence is optional. You may leave fields blank; please avoid unrelated medical or identifying information.

Decision record: Date; proposal identifier; eligible-voter count; participation; yes/no/abstain totals; applicable threshold; result; responsible role; review date; link to public rationale. Do not publish individual recovery histories or confidential complaint evidence.

Meeting handover: Date/time; host/cohost; accessibility arrangements; optional theme; opening agreements; emergency/report resources checked; attendance total only; practical issues for next time. Record a safety incident separately with restricted access if necessary.

The founding test is practical: can a member disagree, keep their privacy, choose their recovery goals, ask for help, take part in decisions and return after a hard week without owing loyalty to anyone? Build MRA so that the answer is observable in its everyday behavior.


RESEARCH NOTES
[E06] Peer roles and boundaries; [E07] trauma-informed framework; [E10] CDC overdose response; [E11] 988 service information; [E15] peer certification standards. Full titles, URLs and limitations appear in MRA_Evidence_Companion. Voting thresholds, age scope, retention periods and schedules are proposed MRA rules, not requirements established by those sources.
