Chinle Recovery Center Opens, Bringing Substance-Use Services Back to Navajo Nation

Eight years after the Chinle community lost the Talbot House facility, Navajo Nation leaders, veterans, long-time recovery members, and community volunteers gathered March 19 to bless and dedicate the Day At A Time Club Chinle Recovery Center, restoring substance-use disorder and peer-recovery services to one of the Navajo Nation's largest communities.

The center is operated by Day At A Time Club, which has run recovery programming on the Navajo Nation continuously since 1978, making it the longest-running recovery provider on the Nation. The new Chinle facility occupies a building donated by Dr. Joe Shirley Jr., Apache County District I Supervisor, whose contribution the Office of the Navajo Nation President credited as essential to making treatment services possible at this site.

Funding for the project came through a combination of ARPA dollars and a $780,000 contract President Buu Van Nygren signed in 2023 with Day At A Time Club to expand alcohol and substance abuse counseling services. "That investment helped lay the groundwork for the center that opened today," President Nygren said in a statement from his office. "This moment represents years of persistence and partnership to restore critical recovery services for our people."

The center will offer Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, Family Groups, and Wellbriety Talking Circles, alongside Sweat Lodge ceremonies, talking circles, mentorship, and telehealth counseling services delivered through community partnerships with behavioral health providers. The program mix reflects an explicit commitment to grounding recovery in Navajo values and cultural healing practices alongside peer and clinical supports.

Navajo Nation Speaker Curley framed the opening as proof of what collective action within the Nation can achieve. "Healing our people requires more than policy — it requires compassion, cultural understanding, and community-driven solutions," Curley said. "This facility will serve as a place of hope, where our relatives can begin their journey toward wellness, one day at a time."

Delegate Shawna Ann Claw, who also spoke at the ceremony, addressed the personal and generational weight of substance abuse and the role community support plays in restoring balance for affected families.

The 25th Navajo Nation Council's release noted that veterans, long-time recovery members, and community volunteers were central to advancing the project through years of grassroots advocacy. The new facility explicitly builds on the legacy of Talbot House, which the Council described as having "previously served the community before being lost."

President Nygren underscored the scale of the need the center is stepping into. "The need for recovery services across the Navajo Nation remains a pressing reality," he said. "Centers like this can help our people heal physically, mentally, and spiritually, allowing them to rejoin our communities.