For Counselors

The Home is an affordable and structured environment for women in early recovery. Counselors use individual and group counseling to help residents learn to identify risks to their recovery and improve their use of tools to create lasting, sustained recovery. Each resident works on her own individualized recovery plan. Staff as well as peers are important to successfully meeting their goals. The relationships they cultivate with women at The Home as well as with those in the local community who have sustained recovery are powerful anchors to a new way of living. Women who are most likely to benefit from our services are those who are willing to make behavioral changes in order to address their addictions.

All residents actively participate in:

• Two group counseling sessions each week

• An individual session with their own counselor

• A house meeting with housemates and the resident manager to discuss house issues, concerns and goals for the coming week.

In addition to counseling sessions, residents are required to attend a minimum of five AA or NA meetings a week and to do a recovery activity on days when meetings are not attended. Residents log daily recovery activities and work on recovery plan goals.

The Home monitors the activities of residents through approval for offsite passes, curfews and signing in and out of the facility. The Home requires total abstinence and emphasizes personal responsibility as the foundation of sober living. Random urine screens are conducted to help insure abstinence is maintained. Residents stay a minimum of three months and a maximum of one year.

~ James B. Cole, President/CEO, Virginia Hospital Center

The residents are required to pay rent at the Home and are required to work full or part-time jobs. Community is an important value as they participate in groups, household chores and in the evening when they gather to prepare and have dinner together.

The residents come from all walks of life and a variety of geographic locations in Virginia and surrounding states. They span all age and ethnic groups. Incoming residents commit to a minimum of 3 months and may stay a year or longer. Residents stay an average of 6 months. An average of 30 women live in the Home each year.

A resident manager provides additional support and security. The counselors and Board of Directors are supported by an Executive Director.

The Home is licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia as a residential community-based provider of substance abuse services. The Home is the only licensed program with these services for women-only in Virginia.

Admission

The Women's Home serves women 18 years of age and older who want a life free of chemical dependency. The process of admission includes:

• Completing an application

• Providing information from the healthcare provider or referring treatment facility to confirm application information.

• Having an interview

To be considered for admission, a potential resident must have been clean and sober for at least 30 days. Applicants are screened for stability and to determine that they are not detoxing or actively using drugs. To obtain an application please see the information at the bottom of each page.

Referrals for admission are accepted from health care providers, therapists, family, AA/NA sponsors, treatment centers and others concerned. Self-referrals also are accepted.

Residents come from all walks of life and a variety of geographic locations in Virginia and surrounding states. They span all age and ethnic groups. Incoming residents commit to a minimum of 3 months and may stay a year or longer. Residents stay an average of 6 months. An average of 30 women live in the Home each year.

The Application for Admission also is available for download in PDF Format: Application for Admission.