People in recovery learn, through their experiences in mutual recovery support activities, to support each other as part of a group. They learn to respect the group and each other. When they join the recovery community, they are ready to develop leadership skills to take on the challenges of building effective organizations.

Some of the projects brought in consultants with experience in helping individuals learn organizational leadership skills through such activities as learning to make presentations to a group, speaking in public, and studying group processes such as consensus building and even Robert's Rules of Order.

Although some members shied away initially, they joined in the activities when they realized that developing leadership expertise was a way of becoming empowered. Many projects began rotating organizational leadership responsibilities so that everyone could have a chance to lead, thereby learning and practicing new skills.