MONROE — A vision has become a reality: House of Hope, a female sober living facility in Monroe, is open and running. An open house to the public is scheduled for 9-11 a.m. on Dec. 11, with cookies, hot chocolate, and information about the vision and the house. Attendees are to meet in the lower level of Grace Lutheran Church in Monroe, and small groups will be given a tour of the neighboring home.

The home used for House of Hope is owned by Grace Lutheran Church, which is next door. Formerly the Family Promise location, through funding and donations, the home was renovated and made ready for residential use.

After years of working as jail chaplain and getting to know addicts through the Green County Drug Court, Monroe Church of the Nazarene senior pastor Paul Watkins wanted to help women that are struggling get onto their own feet. Often, once released, the women would last about six months in recovery before relapsing or ending up back in trouble. Wanting to fix that, Watkins’ vision was a stable home for women in recovery — away from previously toxic environments that could spark a relapse.

“I saw several years ago a great need in our community … a program for a safe place to live and to continue their recovery,” Watkins said. “I saw too many turnarounds — they’d get out and be good for about six months, and then they break because we’re sending them back into toxic environments. That was probably the birth of it (House of Hope) right there, and it just seemed like it took off.”

House of Hope Committee, has a committee of about 20 members and more than 60 total available volunteers, from counselors to mentors and community members — all of which have been affected by addiction themselves, either personally or through family and close friends. 

“They understand the beast that people are fighting with,” Watkins said. “You have to help them understand the roots of the problem and their life, and then you have to help them develop a new plan and a new strategy for life — a new way to live life. And that takes time — time and commitment.”

The home is not a for-profit recovery facility, but the vision is to be more than a living space for recovering addicts — it’s to make it a home, and a place for the residents to get back on their feet, and to get a solid foundation to have a successful life moving forward.

“Most women in recovery have got traumatic events in their lives that they’re overcoming, so they need help with that. I think what we try to offer is a well-rounded approach to recovery that takes care of the multiple aspects of recovery in their lives,” Watkins said. “And that’s where we’ve just seen that happen in the last two years — the birth, the vision was two years ago, and then we got the house that following January.”

About the home

Green County House of Hope is a four-bedroom facility with kitchens and bathrooms on both the first and second floors, and multiple washer and dryer machines in the basement for the residents to do their own laundry.

The home is funded mainly through Southwest Wisconsin Community Action Program, though there have been numerous organizations that have donated to the cause, like the Moose Club. Watkins said the eventual goal is for House of Hope to become its own nonprofit, which would cut out some of the red tape.

“We’re hoping to, in the next year, in our core group and the committee, become our own nonprofit. It would make things a lot easier for us,” Watkins said.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused issues early on for the house, including delaying the first resident and limiting interaction and community care that was expected. “We learned from that,” Watkins said. A year in, the trial run is over and those in charge feel confident moving forward.

“We get a lot of our support from the community, although we haven’t really told the community we’re here yet. We wanted the first year to be ‘let’s work out the bugs’ — and we’ve had some bugs to work out,” Watkins said. 

Addicts of all types are welcome to apply: Heroin, methamphetamine, alcohol, crack cocaine and even sex addicts. “It could be anything, really — we’re not picky,” Pickett said.

“We see a lot of heroin addiction in this community,” Watkins said. However, “we’re not limited to a substance addiction. It can be almost any kind of addiction. Addiction — as it runs its course in their life — it usually wreaks havoc in their lives and they lost jobs; end up in jail; commit crimes in order to carry on their addiction. So, it’s about helping them get back on their feet, whatever their addiction is.”

The home also isn’t exclusively for Green County residents — it’s available for any female addict 18 years or older with at least 90 days in recovery.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re from. If you need help, we’re going to help you if we can,” said Julie Pickett, a staff member of the Green County Drug Court and House of Hope Committee member. “If you meet the qualifications, if you’ve been in recovery for 90 days, if you’re sober and you meet these requirements, then we’re going to help you.”

In order to become a resident, applicants first have to qualify. Then there is an interview process with committee members, headed by Watkins. Once in the home, there are continued rules to follow, like attending various group therapy sessions, like Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and Smart Recovery. They also need to look for and find a job as part of the recovery process. 

“They have to take these steps. That’s all accountability. That’s life,” Pickett said. “We’re not completing our mission if we’re doing these things for them. We will guide; we will walk with you. Will we do it for you? No.”

Watkins said an important aspect of recovery is the individual has to take control of their own lives, “and we just help them do that.”

“Our recovery community really is the foundation of that support of that house,” Pickett said. “I cannot say enough about the support we have in this community, holy smokes. Not a lot of people know about that support, but we have a lot of addiction support, free of charge. So when they come into that house, they have to be engaged in support groups. … There is a literally a meeting every single day of the week. They can’t get out of it.”

Early on, House of Hope was pondering how many residents to house at one time. Watkins said a group of 15-20 would be hard to manage, almost likening it to a college sorority house. Because of the pandemic, the number over the first year was a maximum of four, and Watkins believes it’s almost the perfect number. 

“I’ve worked with recovery houses where there’s 10, 12, 15 women in the house, and it’s not a good thing,” he said. 

There currently is no waiting list, and interested women can apply online at www.gchoh.org. Residents can stay at the facility for as long as they need to in order to recover. That could be six months, a year, 18 months, two years or more, Watkins said.

“We don’t put a time limit on it. We review them every six months if they want to stay there,” Watkins said. “The purpose of the house is to become their home — a place where they can live while they’re getting themselves back on their feet. And if that takes six months, a year or two years — it’s fine with us.”

Residential life

Utilities are covered by charitable funds, including wi-fi. Food and essentials, like laundry detergent and toilet paper, are to be purchased by the residents, but in a pinch, a donated item may find its way into the home, too.

Watkins said house residents are in charge of their own bedding, and that their rooms are kept tidy and orderly. “Ordinarily when a woman comes into the house, we give her one to two months to get her feet underneath or find a job; get herself involved in different recovery groups and get to know the community,” Watkins said. Once those boxes are checked off, there is a program fee for the residents, which goes towards support of the house, similar to paying rent and utilities, but at a lower cost.

Pickett said the camaraderie of the residence helps in aiding their recovery — as the women look out for and trust each other, becoming sister-like friends. 

“You never know when you’re bringing different people into an environment if it’s going to work out with them or not. But there’s a commonality, and the fact that they’re addicts — and they know it — and the commonality of their desire to be different. They come supportive of each other,” Pickett said.

They also participate in activities together, which can help build self-confidence and build a bond together.

“I think it incorporates more than just focus on recovery. Recovery is regaining your life back again, and part of that is your activities and exposing them to just fun things to do,” Pickett said. “That’s where you find your purpose, right? You know, like, ‘I am worth this. I am worth allowing myself to have some fun. Yeah, I’ve made my mistakes, but I’m certainly not going forward to define myself by those mistakes.’ We’re not here to make lateral moves — we’re here to move up. We have a lot of resources.”

If a resident “slips up” and relapses, which has happened, they are not cast aside.

“We’re not going to throw them out on the street, but when they have a relapse, we’re here to help them. There’s a problem — something else needs to be addressed,” whether it is different counseling or engagement, Watkins said.

Success stories so far

Statistics show that only about 10% of recovery cases in programs like this are successful, but the early returns at House of Hope are breaking that trend.

“So far we’ve beaten the odds,” said Peg Watkins, Paul’s wife. 

“The goal is just to get them in a good, healthy place in their own lives, and then help them begin to deal with broken families,” Paul Watkins said.

Watkins, Peg, and Pickett glowingly discussed House of Hope’s early success stories. 

One resident recently moved out of the home to work on a family farm in northern Wisconsin.

“That was her goal,” Watkins said.

While there have been two Green County residents already in the facility, another, from Milwaukee, not only moved to Monroe, but has made the city her permanent home. 

“She’s actually out on her own now. She’s got her own apartment, she work’s — she’s got an incredible success story,” Watkins said. 

Pickett said this particular case is near and dear to her heart. It also proves that addicts don’t need to return “home” in order to get the best recovery — because sometimes “home” isn’t the best environment, it can be toxic to the psyche, trigger the addiction, and just as easily, addicts can fall back into the same bad habits as before.

 “There’s been this historical rumor that says geographical relocations just don’t work because you bring your addiction with you. However, in some cases they do work because if your environment is a trigger, or your environment is so toxic that you need to remove yourself from it in order to get better — we can be that place. That was the case for her,” she said.

The woman came from a troubled home, with an alcoholic mother and a father who had gotten her hooked drugs when she was just 11. 

“She said, ‘I don’t even know what a normal life would look like.’ You pretty much start from square one with helping them learn what true family is about and what a healthy family looks like,” Watkins said. 

She learned of the program in jail and wanted to join. While in the home she wanted to return to school to become an AODA counselor herself.

“We’re all for that, if that’s part of their new purpose in life,” Watkins said of returning to school. “She’s been impacted so deeply that she just wants to help other people. Our community could use more AODA counselors. I think she’d be a great one.”