Last updated: October 2026. By Sara Caldwell from New Resilience.

Building a Year-Round Alumni Community from the Ground Up

Thrive Treatment partnered with New Resilience to build a structured alumni program where outreach had been informal and inconsistent. The result is “Rooted”, an alumni community with a clear path from admission through the first year after discharge, run by people and supported by technology.

AT A GLANCE · LOS ANGELES, CA · RESIDENTIAL, PHP, IOP & SOBER LIVING · LAUNCHED AUGUST 2026

THE CHALLENGE

Before Rooted, Thrive’s alumni outreach was a personal effort led by one staff member who also handled admissions, with a goal of reaching 50 alumni each week by call or text. The care was there, but without dedicated staff or a system to support it, there was no reliable way to stay connected to all the alumni or know how they were doing after they left.

Thrive had 1,500 alumni in its records, but only about 1,000 had current contact information and consent to be contacted. Follow-up fell to Miles in Admissions/Alumni, who spent roughly 10 hours a week on calls and messages alongside other responsibilities. There was no outcome tracking after discharge.

That meant leadership couldn’t measure long-term impact, and staff often didn’t hear that an alum was struggling until the situation had become urgent.

THE APPROACH

Sara Caldwell, Head of Alumni Services at New Resilience, embedded herself within Thrive’s team to understand how the organization worked and partnered with their staff to lead the alumni program and its outcomes.

Drawing on over a decade of building high-engagement alumni networks, Sara applied proven frameworks tailored specifically to Thrive’s needs. She structured an end-to-end strategy, encompassing early pre-discharge connection, automated check-ins, and weekly virtual support groups.

She then designed a phased implementation plan, embedding each step into daily operations to create continuous support from admission through the first year after discharge.

• Discovery and integration. An onsite visit touring Thrive’s facilities and meeting with every team to learn how clients move through care. That insight shaped the alumni program integrated directly into Thrive’s operations.

• A name and identity. The alumni community was branded Rooted, so clients hear about it by name while still in treatment.

• SMS consent at admission. Consent is collected during intake, so the connection is in place before discharge and outreach stays compliant.

• Bi-weekly discharge groups. Clients preparing to leave meet the alumni community and learn what Rooted offers before their last day.

• A weekly alumni Zoom. A standing meeting is co-hosted by New Resilience and Thrive staff, so there is always a familiar place to come back to.

• Cultivators, an alumni leadership program. Alumni welcome new graduates, help at events, and support their peers.

• A first-year SMS cadence. Scheduled check-ins through the first 12 months, with a staff member following up when a reply signals an alum needs support.

• Re-engagement for past alumni. Outreach to former clients who had lost touch, inviting them back into the community.

  
  

THE SOFTWARE

• Dedicated staff lead the Rooted community, while intelligent automation streamlines the operational work behind the scenes so the team can focus on meaningful alum engagement.

1. Automated data quality and enrichment. Accurate records are essential to effective outreach. New Resilience’s AI import agent identified duplicate entries, corrected contact details, and enriched records using Thrive’s internal files. Client data remains protected within New Resilience and is never shared with third-party AI platforms.

2. Automated outreach and staff handoffs. Newly discharged clients are enrolled in a tailored first-year check-in sequence from Thrive’s primary number, during custom-configured hours. When an alum responds, automation pauses and staff receive an alert for personal follow-up. If a former client signals interest in returning to care, check-ins pause so clinical support can take priority.

• In the first 30 days, Rooted engaged more than 1,000 alumni with only two hours of weekly administrative effort from Thrive’s staff.

  
  

IMPLEMENTATION

Rooted launched over six weeks, with New Resilience leading design, setup, and ongoing management. Thrive’s team contributed a few hours each week through leadership check-ins, one-to-one coaching with alumni staff, and support calls.

EARLY RESULTS

In the first 30 days, more than 1,000 past Thrive clients received Rooted communications, and 83% of discharged clients remained engaged through meetings, events, or text messages. Three alumni referrals were directly linked to New Resilience outreach.

Participation continues to grow. The weekly Zoom averages 12 attendees, alumni response rates average 22%, and the Cultivators leadership group is forming to help lead and expand Rooted.

IN THEIR WORDS

“Working with New Resilience has elevated our alumni program. Their platform gives us the tools we need, while their alumni programming expertise helps us use them effectively. They understand behavioral health and the importance of meaningful and long-term alumni engagement. Their team has been responsive, knowledgeable, and a true extension of ours.”

— Ken Struss, Chief Growth Officer, Thrive Treatment

“It has been nothing but refreshing working with New Resilience. I’ve learned so much through Sara and the rest of the team. The system is set up to be helpful and is very easy to use. The best part of New Resilience is that I can see our community already getting closer together in a very short time period.”

— Miles Sauvageau, Alumni & Admissions Coordinator, Thrive Treatment

WHAT THIS COULD LOOK LIKE AT YOUR FACILITY

Every facility’s alumni community looks different, and Rooted was built around Thrive’s clients, staff, and culture. New Resilience designs, launches, and manages the program, so your team can stay focused on care.

Book a 15-minute demo.