After nearly three years on hiatus, Lambda North has restarted meetings for LGBTQ people in recovery, offering a vital space for sobriety, community and mutual support in Palm Beach County. The new weekly meeting takes place Fridays at 7 p.m. at the Crossroads Club in Delray Beach, a well-known hub for 12-step meetings in South Florida.

Lambda North previously operated as a clubhouse with multiple recovery meetings throughout the week, serving as a rare sober space specifically for the LGBTQ community. Though Lambda South in Fort Lauderdale and Lambda Miami-Dade remain active, the Palm Beach County organization shut down during the pandemic and had not reopened — until now.

The renewed meeting is drawing people back in. In keeping with the anonymous traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and other recovery groups, all individuals interviewed for this story are identified by first name only. 

“Currently with the direction we’re going with the meeting, we would provide the opportunity to be in a recovery meeting with people who are in the LGBTQ+ community,” said Kevin, a longtime member and former two-term president of the Lambda North nonprofit board. “I think it's very important that we all recognize that we’re one big human family, and in that regard, as far as addiction, or alcoholism, or drug addiction, all of us follow the same premise [of] no picking up, no matter what.” 

The meeting is open to all and is structured following a traditional Alcoholics Anonymous format. However, Kevin emphasized the importance of a space by and for LGBTQ+ people.

“We put down the drug, we put down the drink, and we really become abstinent, and even though in recovery we all share that commonality that we cannot stop, we do have unique needs as a community,” he said. “If we were not out or we struggled with intimacy, or we had struggles with our family and acceptance, those types of things don't go away because we put down the drink or drug.” 

Those needs were echoed by others who remember what Lambda North once was and what it could be again.

“My first experience with Lambda North was in 2017 when I came down here to get sober and it was really an integral part of my sobriety back then,” Denny said.

Denny said he was devastated when the old clubhouse closed. 

“I had a day pass from my treatment center and it was my birthday, so I was like ‘Oh I’m going to go to the Lambda meeting and then I’m going to go to dinner,’ and when I went to the location on Dixie [Highway], the doors were locked and that’s when I found out it closed.”

Tom, one of Lambda North’s original co-founders, said the idea was inspired by Lambda South in Fort Lauderdale.

“We were running for about nine years and COVID is what killed it, to tell you the truth,” Tom said. “We had NA, we had AA meetings, we had children of AA, we had codependent meetings, we really were moving along pretty well.”

The clubhouse also served as a sober social hub with bingo nights, dances and even a snack bar.

While the current Lambda North meeting is not yet affiliated with a physical clubhouse dedicated solely to their organization, the original nonprofit still exists. 

“We wanted to keep the 501[c)(3)] nonprofit going even though there wasn’t a physical location because that’s hard to get,” Tom said. 

Their hope is that this new Friday night meeting will grow into something larger, bringing Lambda North back to the PBC community. 

“You’ll hear a lot of people that come in and say, ‘Hey listen, because of Lambda I’m still sober,’” Tom said.