Our Program
During the interview process, the director and/or owner will require full disclosure from the applicant, especially for a man who has been incarcerated. We want to understand the man's history and their current situation, to ensure the Noah's House Recovery Program is a good fit for the applicant and that they will be compatible with the current program participants. We are not equipped to handle the special expertise required for men who are on the sex registry.
As in any community, each man is held responsible for their choices and conduct. The owner, the program director, manager, and fellow residents will hold each man accountable for their actions. We make a conscious effort to encourage and support all residents to take responsibility for themselves and to become a positive and engaged participant in the recovery community.
Specific rules for behavior and participation are outlined in the Noah's House Recovery Program Contract.
Putting the Pieces Together
All men in the program are required to submit to an alcohol/drug evaluation through a participating Drug and Alcohol Program and follow the Out-Patient recommendation that is given. He must also participate in a 12-Step program through AA, NA, or Celebrate Recovery with the local 12-Step Recovery community as well as any court-ordered classes such as Anger Management, etc. Most men will require some medical care, psychiatric assistance, and/or dental work, trauma counseling, and financial aid through the Department of Social Services. Men will need to get to know the area and apply for transportation services.
Foundation Building
Some of the men who will enter the program will have had professional lives, long-term jobs, and families. Most of this was built on an inner reality of fear, distrust, defensive posturing and denial- a very formidable facade. Their social and interpersonal foundation was not solid or stable. Sooner or later the early childhood stressors and repressed wounds take their toll and the edifice of stability and accomplishment crumbles, as though built on sand.
It is said that recovery is not so much about staying clean and sober but about a lifestyle change. While this is true, the new lifestyle has to be built on something solid. We believe that working with the AA/NA recovery process and doing step work, while also acknowledging that there is a higher power, will begin to bear the fruit of clear thinking, an ability to share, to ask for help, to be intimate, and to trust. These transformative experiences take time to solidify and become foundational.
In addition to an emotional, cognitive, and social foundation, a predictable and sustainable routine is essential. There is something about simple, day after day, week after week consistency that teaches us some essentials of a healthy lifestyle. We have learned through our own recovery that constructive regularity is one element of a stable foundation. One of the greatest challenges will be learning to just stay put and not cut and run.
Leaving
Some of the men who walk through the front door as a recovery program participant will leave in some state of distress - drunk, high, or angry. Our job as a group is to make transitions into and out of the program as smooth as possible. Not everyone is ready to do the heavy lifting required to recover, let alone do it within the confines of a group of men living within our program. The statistics tell us that about a third of the men who leave simply don't show up one day. They just disappear. Another third leave because they relapse and are not ready or willing to go through the contract process to stay. A small percentage leave because they never settle in for a variety of reasons. Another percentage are removed because they develop serious problematic and disruptive behaviors.
If a man is asked to leave, he will have three days to retrieve his personal belongings. We are not responsible for the safekeeping of these belongings and will be forced to dispose of them if not claimed within 72 hours.
