More than anything else, it’s a way of showing them that they’re part of a family. “It’s just a way of letting them know that they’ve completed something, but also that they’re just starting something - this recovery journey that will continue, if they so choose, after they leave Cornerstone. If they choose to continue treatment in the Intensive Outpatient Program, they’ll get another one when they complete it. “When they complete residential treatment, they have a coin-out ceremony, and their peers offer them encouragement and positive affirmation. “It’s a reminder that you’ve accomplished something, and that you’re taking part in this journey,” Hamlin says. They are, according to Cornerstone Extended Care Director Julie Hamlin, a token of achievement and a source of comfort. Even at Cornerstone of Recovery, a Bradford Recovery Community, patients who complete various levels of addiction treatment receive them. But sobriety medallions aren’t limited solely to 12 Step organizations: Many other support groups for recovering addicts and alcoholics distribute them as well. In 12 Step meetings, they come in various forms: predominantly, Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) groups distribute plastic chips, while in Narcotics Anonymous (N.A.), they give out key tags.

Coin, chip, key tag, medallion: “It’s not a badge of membership,” according to those distributing them at recovery meetings throughout the world, but as markers of clean time, sobriety medallions are the rabbits’ feet of those recovering from alcoholism and addiction.

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