Addiction recovery home opens with celebration, concern

A home for recovering addicts is now open on the shores of Lake Jordan.

The home for up to six residents will aid in starting a new life for some but has also caused concern for some neighbors.

“There is always going to be negative no matter where we go,” Recovery Alive Founder and CEO Tisha Temple said. “I’m trying to focus on the positive because for every negative, I’ve seen two positives.”

Recovery Alive is a North Carolina based organization and officially opened the men’s home Stillwaters on Saturday. It Recovery Alive’s seventh home in the country, the eighth will be open in another two weeks. It is the second home in Alabama. 

“God put a dream on my heart years ago to open up a recovery program,” Temple said. “I didn’t know his plan was to increase this far. He is transforming local communities through local churches.”

The first Alabama home was “Ray of Hope” for women, which opened in October. Both Alabama homes are in Elmore County and are designed to aid recovering addicts start a new life without ignoring their obligations.

“These are sober living homes,” Recovery Alive Ambassador and home director Tracy Boozer said. “This is not a halfway house. It's not a treatment center. It’s not a detox center. It’s not a place where the residents can get a certificate for a bed to satisfy the court.”

Boozer said applicants have to have at least 30 days sobriety under their belt before they can begin to apply. She said the application and interview process is extensive. The process includes checking with court referral services and probation officers before allowing residents to move into the home.

Locally, Recovery Alive is under the Shoal Creek Baptist Church and its Recovery Alive program. It is a 12-step Biblical based sobriety program. The church was using Celebrate Recovery until a year ago. Residents of Stillwaters and Ray of Hope are required to attend the Thursday meetings of the program and other church services. Being close to the church is necessary as not all residents have adequate transportation. Residents are also required to work to pay rent. They must let Boozer and other Recovery Alive volunteers know their schedule.

“The doors are locked at 10 p.m.,” Boozer said. “They can’t get in without me after that.”

Boozer said many of the residents normally work food services as they begin to get back on their feet.

“They pay ‘rent’ and help with cleaning and keeping up the home,” Boozer said. “They are drug tested before they enter the home and at random. I’m coming and going in the homes all the time.” 

Neighbors have no issues in creating a home to help recovering addicts. Their issue with Stillwaters is the location, on the lake front where everyone is so close and also the timing.

There are also concerns about the home’s septic system with six people being in it.

Many neighbors said they learned of the recovery home less than a week before Saturday’s ribbon for Stillwaters was cut. 

Leah Bassett recently purchased property adjacent to Stillwaters. It was well before intentions for the recovery home were made public. Bassett is single as are several women in the area.

“I bought this to build a small cabin on,” Bassett said. “My children are into fishing and I wanted a place for them. I had started the planning process with a contractor but after learning of this earlier this week, I have put it on pause.”

Bassett was aided by neighbors in marking the property boundaries. Her property line goes within yards of the front door of Stillwaters.

“We did this to show how close the house is to things,” Bassett said. “I’m concerned about safety, especially since there is no on site staff. What happens if they wander off and pick up a fishing reel from my porch and then pawn it?” 

However, Recovery Alive offered a story about a recovering addict from another home. Bryce Besley applied to be a resident of the Recovery Alive home Pathway to Peace in Johnston County, North Carolina. On. Dec. 2, 2023, he was accepted to be a resident straight from prison.

“I look like I’m up to no good — someone who can’t be trusted,” Besley said in the letter. “But they accepted me as a person. I had never felt that before in a Christian setting.”

Besley said he felt love for the first time because of the home.

“That void of abandonment and loneliness that addiction had created over the years was finally filled,” Besley said. 

Besley was married April 4, 2024, and had a child Oct. 21, 2024, and was baptized.

The homes are in unincorporated Elmore County, which has no zoning, and the homes are in areas with no homeowner’s association. The homes are also rented so as the need for recovery homes increases or decreases, the number of homes can grow or shrink as needed. Boozer said the property owner is aware of how the home is being used.

Bassett understands addicts need help and is willing to help. She has volunteered to purchase a mobile home for the program if someone else or another group will come up with the property for it.

“I’m not against recovery and helping create a better life for them,” Bassett said. “I understand everyone needs a chance.”