How Chapter House Stands Out

Structure and Oversight

Chapter House is unique because it bridges a gap for young men who are no longer in need of an inpatient or residential treatment setting but need more help than a low structure traditional sober living environment can provide.

Clinical Support

Chapter House has their own Clinical Center that provides outpatient treatment, counseling, group therapy, family therapy, and trauma therapy. Chapter House Counseling Center has a Board-Certified Addiction Psychiatrist as their medical director and practicing psychiatrist. He sees clients weekly onsite at the Clinical Center. The clinical staff is part of the overall team that supports and leads each residents experience at Chapter House, which provides a deeper clinical understanding to each individual’s behavior, triggers, needs and individual plan for recovery.

Curriculum

Chapter House provides more than just a bed and a curfew for the residents. Each resident works through a curriculum of assignments, experiences, educational modules and 12-step milestones as they work their way through the stages. Chapter House has an intentionally designed program to help each young man thrive and reach their full potential.

Flexible Approach

Chapter House is designed to help individuals who don’t always “fit inside the box.” Chapter House prides itself in its ability to work with each individual in a way that takes into account their individual history, their specific gifts and limitations, and their distinct personality traits and/or diagnosis. Chapter House strikes a good balance of having a higher tolerance level for chronic behavior patterns while creating an accountable environment that allows for growth.

Staff

Unlike programs who just have a live-in house manager, Chapter House has over 20 employees who work full time and are deeply invested in the success of each resident. With this much staff, Chapter House provides a significant amount of mentorship, case management, oversight and individualized care.

Overnight

Chapter House has an awake overnight staff who does regular bed checks, provide monitoring and supervision to ensure the safety of all residents throughout the deep night.

Dual Diagnosis

Transitional living programs historically lack understanding and tolerance for dual diagnosis issues in their residents. Chapter House welcomes individuals who have unique dual diagnosis issues and make reasonable and creative accommodations based on individual needs. Chapter House has their own clinical center equipped with 4 specialized therapists and a medical director and practicing psychiatrist to work with the residents at Chapter House. Additionally, all sober living staff are regularly trained to understanding each resident in the context of their specific diagnosis and how to this affects their behavior, comprehension, emotions and ability to implement principles of recovery. Medication management is taken very seriously and through the self-administration medication protocols, every resident is held accountable to taking their meds as prescribed.

Schedule

Young adults in early recovery often lack discipline – they lie around, sleep late, play video games all night and can be generally unproductive. Unlike other programs who require residents to leave the house during certain hours of the day with no accountability and no direction, Chapter House residents have a firm daily schedule with staff support. Each individual has productive goals and milestones that must be met throughout the day. Meditation, cleaning, exercise, sleep hygiene, 12 step activities and recreation are key components of each day. You can view the Stage 1 schedule here.

Support Services

Chapter House has a firm life skills curriculum that every resident will complete with specific and measurable milestones. The curriculum includes completion of the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Curriculum, mock job interviews, and real-life budgeting experiences. Chapter House walks alongside residents while completing the most tedious of tasks that are involved in living a productive adult life. This may look like spending the day at the social security office getting a replacement card, teaching a resident to drive, helping find them a tutor for one of their difficult classes or taking them to the bank to get a checking account. Residents are taught to meal plan and grocery shop on a budget of $60/week.

Legal Support Services

Chapter House has extensive experience working with young men with legal consequences from their addiction. Due to the significant structure of our program and the clinical support services, residents have more often than not easily satisfied the demands of the court. Chapter House staff provides regular communication, progress notes, and copies of drug screens to all legal contacts. Additionally, we provide transportation to court appearances, probation appointments, and appointments with attorneys. When necessary, we made court appearances, worked directly with the judge and officers of the court to secure the best opportunity for permanent recovery for our residents.

Career and Education Assistance

Chapter House has a full-time education and career coach who meets with each resident to walk with them through building a vision their future and acting on that vision. Each resident will have step by step help with their resume, their job applications, appropriate attire, interview preparations and the details of beginning a new job. Additionally, reclaiming educational goals can be very labor intensive. Our staff help each step of the way through transferring transcripts, filling out online applications, taking entrance exams, and everything in between. Chapter House doesn’t tell a resident to get a job, they show them how. Chapter House doesn’t just encourage residents to get back in school, they get hands on and help them study for their GED, help them study, find them a tutor, create a schedule to complete online high school modules, or sit at the computer with them to finish an online application, or drive them to meet with an academic advisor or help them register for classes and buy books.

Transportation

Chapter House does not believe it benefits young men in early recovery to leave them to “fin for themselves” when it comes to transportation. During the vulnerable months of early recovery, Chapter House provides transportation services to all 12-step meetings, recreational activities, doctor’s appointments, legal appointments, the grocery store, job searching and job interviews. As the resident moves through the program towards more independence and autonomy, we begin to transition them into responsibility for their own transportation.