Previous Residents' Stories
I was referred to Granada House in November 1989. “Referred” is a very polite way to put it. I was a patient in a rehab attached to a well-known mental hospital in Boston, and a psychiatrist in this rehab had established some credibility with me, and he opined that (1) unless I signed up for long-term treatment someplace, I wasn’t going to be able to stay off drugs and alcohol; and that (2) if I couldn’t find a way to stay off drugs and alcohol, I was going to be dead by 30. I was 27. This was not my first in-patient rehab, nor was it my first mental hospital.
Because certain myths about both addiction and halfway houses die hard, I’ll give you a little bio. I was raised in a solid, loving, two-parent family. None of my close relatives have substance problems. I have never been in jail or arrested–I’ve never even had a speeding ticket. In 1989, I already had a BA and one graduate degree and was in Boston to get another. And I was, at age 27, a late-stage alcoholic and drug addict. I had been in detoxes and rehabs; I had been in locked wards in psych facilities; I had had at least one serious suicide attempt, a course of ECT, and so on. The diagnosis of my family, friends, and teachers was that I was bright and talented but had “emotional problems.” I alone knew how deeply these problems were connected to alcohol and drugs, which I’d been using heavily since age fifteen. Every single one of my mental-health crises had followed a period of heavy bingeing on marijuana, tranquilizers, and alcohol. I had first vowed to quit at age nineteen; the longest I’d ever gone without any sort of substance was three months. I was convinced that this was because I was weak, or because I really did have intractable mental problems which only drugs and alcohol gave me any relief from.
I therefore spent most of the 1980s on the horns of a dilemma that many addicts and alcoholics understand very well. On the one hand, I knew that drugs and alcohol controlled me, ran my life, and were killing me. On the other, I loved them–I mean really loved them, as in the sort of love where you’ll do anything, tell yourself any sort of lie to keep from having to let the beloved go. For most of the late 80s, my method for “quitting” drugs was to switch for a period from just drugs to just alcohol. Then I’d switch back to drugs in order to “quit” drinking. The idea of months or years without any chemicals at all was unimaginable. This was my basic situation. I both wanted help and didn’t. And I made it hard for anyone to help me: I could go to a psychiatrist one day in tears and desperation and then two days later be fencing with her over the fine points of Jungian theory; I could argue with drug counselors over the difference between a crass pragmatic lie and an “aesthetic” lie told for its beauty alone; I could flummox 12-Step sponsors over certain obvious paradoxes inherent in the concept of denial. And so forth.
Six months in Granada House helped me immeasurably. I still wince at some of the hyperbole and melodrama that are used in recovery-speak, but the fact of the matter is that my experience at Granada House helped me, starting with the fact that the staff admitted me despite the obnoxious condescension with which I spoke of them, the House, and the l2-Step programs of recovery they tried to enable. They were patient, but they were not pushovers. They enforced a structure and discipline about recovery that I was not capable of on my own: mandatory counseling, mandatory AA or NA meetings, mandatory employment, curfew, chores, etc. Not to mention required reading of AA/NA literature whether I found it literarily distinguished or not. Granada House also provided my first experience of an actual recovering community: there were over twenty newly recovering residents, and the paid staff–almost all of whom were in recovery–and the unpaid volunteers, and the dozens of House alumni who seemed always to be around in the kitchen and living room and offices. I made friends, and enemies, and enemies who then became friends. I was, for six months, literally immersed in recovery. At the time, it seemed crowded and claustrophobic and loud, and I resented the lack of “privacy,” just as I resented the radical simplicity of 12-Step programs’ advice to newcomers: go to a l2-Step meeting every day, make one such meeting your home group, get a sponsor and tell him the truth, get active with some kind of job in your home group, pray for help whether you believe in God or not, etc. The whole thing seemed uncomfortable and undignified and dumb. Now, from the perspective of almost fourteen years sober, it looks like precisely what I needed. In Granada House, I was surrounded by recovering human beings in all their variety and sameness and neurosis and compassion, and I was kept busy, and I was made bluntly and continually aware of the fact that I had a potentially fatal disease that could be arrested only by doing some very simple, strange-looking things. I was denied the chance to sit chain-smoking in private and drive myself crazy with abstract questions about stuff that didn’t matter nearly as much as simply not putting chemicals into my body.
“I was a resident at Granada House from December 2018 through June 2019, after which time I graduated to Alcott, the three-quarter step down house for those who successfully complete the program at GH and wish to continue treatment. Granada House simply saved my life. Living in a structured environment that held me accountable for my words, actions, and behaviors, was precisely what I needed to make it possible to return to living independently and free of my addiction. Through in-house groups and counseling sessions, I learned how to examine what had created my issues and taught me how to face and cope with them, providing me with tools to self-regulate, not self-medicate. We were also required to attend 12-step meetings daily outside of the house, find a sponsor and work the steps, as well as attend weekly therapy sessions. One reason I chose to go to Granda, as opposed to other houses, was that working was not only recommended, it was required to live there. For me personally, working at a job is essential for self-esteem and a sense of autonomy, which is helpful when you’re an adult living in a group environment in which there aren’t often opportunities for autonomy. But the most important factor of my experience was the staff at the house. There was always someone available to talk to who could provide support and guidance, twenty-four hours a day. I greatly appreciate my time at Granada as it gave me the stepping stone to now being able to live a life of recovery, a life of freedom once again.”
-Jen
“The House That Love Built: Granada is like no other recovery support structure in that it fully embraces the paradoxes and complexity that make up real life and adulthood. It treats clients like grownups, and does not micro-manage, but also thereby gives recovering residents plenty of rope with which to hang themselves! Accountability is considered an absolute given, and rules such as no smoking on the grounds, completing assigned chores, honesty, kindness, respect, etc., are not treated at all lightly by staff, which may come as a surprise to new residents. After arriving from a locked rehabilitation or criminal justice facility many experience the freedom of being able to come and go as they please, set their own meeting schedule, etc., as signs of laxity – the inevitable hammer coming down upon rule breaking is invariably met with indignant surprise, even though they had been advised of the rules both verbally and in a handbook – but given that staff are so warm and egalitarian, there is often a misguided assumption they might not really mean it! Hopefully the first offense is for something minor enough to allow for a second chance before getting the boot!
Participants who do manage to stay for the full experience (usually ~6 months) get a solid foundation in living day to day life substance-free in 12-step recovery. Clients attend weekly meetings with their individual counselor, daily 12-step meetings in the local community, as well as internal group counseling and educational sessions several times a week. All residents are expected, according to their ability, to obtain employment and pay their agreed upon rent. New residents are given some job search assistance and help obtaining human services as needed. Full dinner is provided on weekdays, and staples with which to make meals at other times are provided as well.
Clients are encouraged to form support structures, and are assisted in figuring out next steps, whether that is moving to an affiliated sober house nearby or returning home, returning to a previous career, etc. People often form lasting and supportive friendships during their stay, and graduates in good standing are also welcome to drop by any time for a chat, a meal, to attend an in-house meeting or to attend a nearby meeting with a group of residents. Many graduates have said that not only did Granada House change their direction and save their lives – not only did it teach them how to work, play drug-free, and live with others – it gave them their first real sense of a place to feel at home since childhood. ”
-Alexandra