Who We Are
Told by Potter House co-founder, Donovan Page.
Potter House Recovery exists because of a friendship—one built in the rooms of recovery, strengthened through service, and forever changed by loss.
My name is Donovan Page, and I met Hayden Potter in early 2011 at the Harbor Group of Alcoholics Anonymous. I had recently come home from prison and was fighting hard to rebuild my life. Hayden walked in wearing an LA Fitness shirt, and after we talked for a moment, he invited me to come work out with him.
When I got to the gym, the front desk told me he was upstairs training a few people. I went up and found Hayden doing push-ups—with five grown men on his back and his feet propped on a bench. That moment told me everything I needed to know about him: he was strong, disciplined, and full of life.
From there, we became close friends. We served together, spoke at meetings, and carried the message wherever we could. We became fast friends and were inseparable for a long stretch of our early recovery.
A Friendship Through the Highs and Lows
In 2014, I relapsed into meth addiction. It started with crack cocaine and spiraled quickly. Even though I wasn’t in a good place, Hayden never stopped checking on me. He always made sure I had food or asked what I needed. Whenever I drifted, he showed up—no judgment, just compassion.
That June, he helped me get a job at a plastics company where he was a supervisor. We worked side by side for two years, even as he began facing his own private struggles.
A Moment I Will Always Carry
One day, Hayden came to see me at the Budget Inn—where I had stayed so long, they eventually moved me into the mother-in-law quarters in the back. He sat across from me and asked me for meth. I tried to argue with him, but he insisted he would get it somewhere else. I gave in. We used together.
I did not know it would be the last moment I truly had with my friend.
Before his passing, we had drifted apart, disagreed on some things, and I was far from spiritually well. Hayden died by suicide on December 15, 2016. I was so deep in shame, guilt, and addiction that I did not attend his funeral—something I will always regret.
When the Potter House Recovery board later asked me to share something about Hayden, I reached out to his mother, Becky. She gave me permission. She also forgave me. And she told me that forgiveness is exactly what Hayden would want.
Why Potter House Recovery Exists
Potter House Recovery was created in Hayden’s honor—to continue the work he believed in and lived out:
- showing up for people who feel forgotten,
- offering compassion without judgment,
- creating community for those fighting for their lives,
- and giving individuals hope, structure, and a path to recovery.
Hayden and I shared so many good years together—years filled with purpose, laughter, fellowship, and service. But we also shared the pain of getting lost. That loss is why Potter House Recovery fights so fiercely today.
This program stands as a living tribute to Hayden’s life, his heart, and the countless others we have loved and lost. Recovery changes lives. Community saves lives. And no one should walk this path alone.
Potter House Recovery exists because one life mattered—and because every life still does.
