R1 Learning

Putting Life-Changing Learning in the Palm of Your Hand

R1 Learning brought me alongside them in 2016 when all they had were a logo, some Pantone colors, and a really big idea — to put recovery, mental health, and life skill tools in the palm of your hand.

Through his own experience in the recovery world, the founder, Tom Karl, saw the gap between the evidence-based and best-practice materials provided and their accessibility and level of engagement. This was where R1 was born. R1 stands for "Recovery First", because, as anyone in recovery knows, to make recovery happen, it needs to come first. But R1 isn't just for those in recovery, R1 Learning's Curriculum includes topics with life skills such as healthy boundaries, career interests, emotions and feelings, and much, much more.

At the heart of R1 are our Discovery Cards — cards meant to be held, felt, sorted, and contemplated as we bring these evidence-based and best-practice resources to life — as we make the intangible tangible. The cards can be used individually, in one-on-one sessions, and even in a group. Each topic features a colorful model that helps contextualize the content which then plays out in the color-coded, easy-to-use deck. Creating a library of models was a unique and delightful task.

Each topic also comes with a facilitator guide that acts as a companion for deeper dives into the topic. The guides are rich, full of supporting content, beautiful and informative tables, charts, and worksheets to guide the user on their journey of self-discovery.

R1 is always producing new topics in the decks along with their new corresponding digital platform R1 Discover. Also in-progress are a library of videos  to go along with each topic that I've had the pleasure of working in collaboration with Pookyhonk Productions to art direct and bring our topics to life in a whole new platform. We've had the pleasure of talking to recovery centers who have used our videos and shared stories of individuals in recovery watching our videos late at night and deciding to call a friend instead of looking for a fix.

Working with R1 has been one of the most satisfying projects of my career. It is the penultimate of doing good work for good people.