MADISON — The opening of a new, 12-bed sober house in Madison was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Feb. 8.
Safe Haven Sober Homes — the seventh in operation — is owned and operated by William Mucklow, who owns multiple sober house facilities in Kanawha County.
Residents must have completed a detox program before entry and are required to attend addiction therapy services and work with a recovery coach and/or sponsor on their goals. They are required to find employment (with assistance) and pay rent and program fees. They will also undergo random drug screenings. The program is set up to help them gain life skills, such as money management, along with fulfilling recovery needs. Residents can stay in this program up to one year.
Each building will be secure and monitored, and residents will be expected to follow the program and work on achieving recovery goals.
As Boone County natives who still attend church in the Racine area, Mucklow and his wife Beth say they seized an opportunity to help their native county.
Mucklow said Safe Haven was a project built out of genuine inspiration.
“A good friend of mine passed away from drugs, and another good friend who was a doctor got hooked on painkillers and it ruined his life,” he said. “The problem that I see with not just West Virginia, but our country as a whole, is we weren’t treating it right. We were putting a Band-Aid on the problem and sending people to detox, and they’d go back into the same environment they came from and the cycle just repeated. I think there needs to be more places like sober living homes so they can get their life skills together so they can learn how to stand on their feet.”
He added, “We have people who come to us who have never lived in a house with utilities before, and they come with no identification or any idea how to get one. It is a process and I feel like this pandemic we’ve had doesn’t hold water to our drug epidemic. I think with the pandemic here is starting to wane and we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and we’ll go on with our lives, but this (addiction) isn’t going to stop anytime soon.”
Mucklow said he doesn’t claim to have all of the answers, but he’s seen progress.
“We’ve had people come through the program and get their kids back, and that is a wonderful thing,” he said.
Coordinator Kim Holstein said she believes the opening of the sober house adds to a roster of successful Boone County services.
“When I came back to Boone County to work in recovery, my dream was to have more resources in this area,” she said. “I am so thankful that we now have Lotus Recovery Center in Comfort; Brighter Futures Outpatient MAT program; there is now recovery coaches in the Emergency Room at Boone Memorial Hospital; Hero House, which is a men’s faith-based sober living; and Fulton House, which is a women’s faith-based sober living. This month, Boone County is gaining a re-entry council, and, of course, the Quick Response Team. It is amazing to see how far this county has come in recovery resources.”
Assistant Director Curtis Lively said sober house opportunities helped him turn his life around. He once served as the general manager of a large auto service center, but after a struggle with addiction, the Greenbrier County native found himself in need of help.
“I graduated a one-year program with no bad drug screens about three years ago,” he said. “I’ve committed to never take another pain pill again, and I haven’t. I was the resident assistant in a home for about 10 months in South Charleston. Will (Mucklow) asked me to come work for him. He’s been really good to me and I’m blessed to have him and I like to think he’s blessed to have me.”
The process of transitional living is offered to graduates of a recovery program where they are still held accountable via drug screens and regular meetings.
The former Homestead Motel, located beside the home at 468 Main St., will be converted into about 20 more beds. The house will serve 12 residents.
The motel renovation is expected to be completed in late May or June.
Lively added that Misty Clevenger has been a tremendous help in preparing the new home for immediate use.
One resident, known as “R.B.,” said his life had spun out of control, but after completing a detox program, he wanted to come back to Boone County. However, he knew he couldn’t return to his previous living environment.
“In the three weeks I have been here, I have two jobs and I work a lot, and I am working on getting my fines paid and my drivers license back,” he said. “Without this house, I would have probably relapsed because I wouldn’t have the support I have. I am so grateful for QRT getting me into detox, and now I have this opportunity to change my life.”
For more information on becoming a resident, online application are available at www.safehavensoberhomes.com or you may contact Assistant Director Lively at 681-587-0659 or Coordinator Holstein at 304-539-9393.
