The Basics
Founded in 2003 in Farmington Hills, Michigan, by Mark Burchell, who has been clean and sober for over 15 years, The Doorway to Recovery provides a network of sober living homes for men and women in the Detroit area. While The Doorway to Recovery is a Christ-centered organization, clients are not forced to follow a faith-based protocol and are offered the option of attending 12-step meetings.
Accommodations and Amenities
The Doorway to Recovery accommodates 70 clients in 15 locations, including Plymouth, Detroit, Farmington Hills, Livonia, Redford and Westland. Accommodations vary, depending on the location, from singles to quadruple-occupancy rooms. A newly admitted male client at Plymouth shares a triple-occupancy room. After a period of time, he progresses to a double and then a single.
Clients are responsible for their own groceries and meal preparation, which can be done in one of the homes’ fully equipped kitchens. Amenities include Wi-Fi, Cable TV, landline phones, coffee, cream, sugar, coffee filters, other paper supplies, soap, all utilities and cleaning supplies. Each residence has a live-in house manager.
Rules and Regulations
Potential clients must have undergone detox. Prior to admission, they must undergo a comprehensive intake interview and pass a drug and alcohol screening. Individuals on medication-assisted treatment are not allowed into the houses.
With the belief that idle time is dangerous and could potentially lead to relapse, all clients are required to start their day at 8 am. They must be out of the house, searching for work, between 9 am and 4 pm Mondays through Saturdays. During the first 14 days, the curfew is 10 pm seven days a week. After that time, the curfew is 11 pm Mondays through Thursdays, and 1 am on Fridays and Saturdays. Other requirements include performance of daily household chores and attendance at recovery support group meetings. Unemployed clients must attend nine weekly meetings, while working residents must be at six recovery support gatherings.
Life Recovery is The Doorway to Recovery’s faith-based component and provides Christian counseling, meetings and recovery support. Life Recovery functions, 12-step and Celebrate Recovery meetings, one Church service and the house meetings all count towards the weekly meeting quota. On Sundays, staff transports interested clients in vans to Woodside Bible Church, located on the main campus, for church service. Clients must obtain a sponsor within two weeks of arrival.
Prohibited behaviors include having visitors of the opposite sex at the house, loitering with housemates in front of the houses, smoking inside, lighting candles or incense, being loud and obnoxious and adjusting the thermostat without prior approval. Clients are subject to random drug and alcohol screenings. Those who have relapsed are immediately terminated from the premises.
Extras
The on-site Work Search program guarantees that 90% of clients will obtain a job within two weeks. Those requiring outpatient care are referred to local drug rehabs.
A Celebrate Recovery meeting is at 7:30 pm Thursday nights at Woodside Bible Church. The Life Recovery program will feature a Bible Study in the near future.
In Summary
For clients who really want to get their lives together, The Doorway to Recovery is a great place. Additionally, men and women who are interested in having Christ as their higher power will have an opportunity to explore that option, on their own accord. The program also offers a limited number of scholarships to financially challenged clients. Applications are available on their website. All in all, this is a great option for those seeking a safe sober environment.
The Doorway to Recovery
33634 W 8 Mile Rd
Farmington, MI 48335
The Doorway to Recovery Cost: $440 (30 days, not including a $100 intake fee). Reach The Doorway to Recovery by phone at (877) 751-7025 or by email. Find The Doorway to Recovery on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and YouTube
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Photo courtesy of SuperDude115 at en.wikipedia [GFDL (https://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), via Wikimedia Commons (resized and cropped)
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