Shepherd House

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This place along with the mens house is a joke. The men and woman hook up and the program reps don’t care as long as they are getting them state funding. You can use drugs still at either place. One girl came home so high today her jaw was swinging. Another spends her day on mass Avenue. As long as you keep quiet and don’t act up when the state comes to do inspections you can stay. The houses should be closed. It’s all a joke. One guy larry is on probation and he brags about how he won’t get caught because this is one of the homes that don’t drug test.

This house needs to figure out how to run a productive residental program. I am not getting the help I need here. I would like to speak to a superior staff who can address this. Sitting in a living room with both houses of women in that one room 5 days a week from 9-3pm + is very unproductive and never was giving a hand book. Don't know when we are able to decide and go to outside meetings. Plus need some type of therapy offered here besides what they consider counseling been here two weeks haven't had one session. Also the admission process when i arrived took 4 hours plus apparently i was not even in their system and I had arrived around 12:30pm and didn't get settled until about a little after 4 and actually still hadn't been assigned a bed at that point. This place needs better organization more staff that know what they are doing.

I am a past graduate of Shepard House (SH) prior to it becoming Victory Programs. This house, the other residences, the counselors and the strick structure of the program saved my life. I was 40 years old when one day I decided I was going to live or die! My life was a complete mess, nobody wanted me around - I didn't even want to be around me. I had a great working career was making a very good salary and I thought I had it all and thought I was all that and more! Well, at the end of my using, I didn't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of. I sold everying I had, to feed my addiction. I knew nothing of detox, rehab, halfway house. I had no idea. All I knew at the end of my using, I hated everything about me. When I arrived at SH. I had surrendered. I didn't know what I was going to do at SH except whatever they told me to do. You see, there were woman smiling, having conversations, living life and I had not done anything along those lines for a long time. I thought, I want to smile again. It may sound ridiculous to some but after months of hard work, the day I smiled and saw the cheeks on my face, I announced it to everyone. SH was a six (6) month program. I stayed and graduated. My family who I hurt deeply came to the graduation. After the six months, I went to the tranition house and after that to a sober apartment and after that I moved away from SH 5 or six houses down Windermere Street into my own apartment. I stayed on Windermere Street in all, three (3) years. Yes, I said 3 years. I was afraid to leave the structure the program freely gave me. Was it hard? You better believe it was! Are they strick? Absolutely! Are the rules in your opinion to much? They may be however, it's all for a reason. I could go on and on about what I got out of SH ... I won't. I will tell you, YOU will get what you put into it. If you want it (sobriety) you can have it. They told me, "do what we do and you can have it too". I didn't, for one second believe I could come out of the rabbit hole I dug myself unto. I spiraled do far down, I didnt think I could ever be happy, have the trust of my family, or have anything. I'm here yo tell you, I had a paper bag with what little belongings I had left with me when I arrived at SH in 1991. Today I am retired and live in a very nice small house that I purchased myself only because I was able to grab on and go on a journey into a better way of life for me, sobriety! Since then I have not found it necessary to use again. I got a great job and BTW, with no formal education. I worked, went to meetings and as they say: Go to meetings Sit up front, get there early, help set up. Get a sponsor. Ask for help. Above all gey HONEST, anyone who wants a better way life, can have it too. Ladies, dig deep inside yourself and get honest. Really honest with yourself and others is a great place to start. In reference to some of the other comments posted - na never mind. It's not necessary. Wish you the best possible life for those who want it.

I'm going by the program in 2010 so I'm not sure if there have been any changes. From my perspective, if you stay clean and follow the rules, and are repectful to the staff and clients, you have a great chance of success. For me it was an oasis in my time of need. In my case, I was homeless. I had left my husband, was estranged from other family and was an alcoholic and addict at my wits end at 49. It was a beautiful place to live, with support, food to eat, a bed to sleep in and some degree of safety. The clientelle was very diverse, but everybody got along 99% of the time. Whatever state benefits this place takes from the individual was necessary to stock basic food. You are staying there free, and the State of MA is giving you benefits. The least you can do is give them funds for food. Walking to meetings every evening wasn't always fun, but they required it. The other programs they require of you are necessary to keep order and to collect data and to help you. I am sober now for 8 years, I don't use AA but many people are successful with it. True, there are manipulative people all around you and many are still getting high. I admittedly didn't take full advantage of this program, I got thrown out twice and they absolutely had the right to do so. I'm a grown adult making the choice of breaking the rules. However, I did go on eventually to get sober. This place kept me alive for approx. 6 months of my life. It's a good place.

Desperate to get sober and willing to do everything programmatically suggested to live a life free from addiction. I took the honesty, humility and gratitude very seriously. I worked my program and never cut corners. All of that never mattered to my "counselor" and one particular zealot who called herself a staff person. In my desire to get honest and stay that way I did respectfully share that I was a lifelong atheist. After that I was targeted constantly : phone restrictions, day passes, room checks and more. Perhaps the most pathetic example of house policy was teaching residents to snitch on their "sisters". In my case it meant that I was put on restrictions for asking MBTA bus drivers if I could ride to my AA/NA meetings witout paying fare because I had zero income. Off-site recovery meetings are mandatory for residets. Getting caught missing meetings was grounds for getting, literally, kicked to the curb with a trashbag full of personal effects. That was my dilemma so I resorted to begging my housemates for bus change.until I got through the Phase One period where I could go into the community to look for work. Which was when I was reported for "being sleazy and manipulative." Wow. Shepherd House was always demanding honesty, accountability and " supporting your sisters!" Lest I forget; I had a car and a valid driver's license! And yes, a perfect driving record! I was not allowed to drive my nearly new Honda, WOMEN were not allowed to drive while at Shepherd House. MEN who were in recovery homes also funded and managed by Victory Programs WERE allowed to keep and use their vehicles while enrolled in their respective programs. This was in 1996. I will never forget these double standards.

I went here and graduated in 1987. Shepherd House truly saved my life. They were strict, but reasonable. I made some life long friends, and got a solid base of recovery from my addiction. I will always be grateful to staff and residents who were there for me. You have to really want to be clean and sober for any treatment program to be successful. It’s not easy for alcoholic or addict.

do any of the people that go there take recovery serious??????? Casey Millis going to mass ave to get high every day but thinks she is sober hahaha

My friend has been going there and I think it is a crock. They accuse people of being high and throw them out in the street at night in the winter. If you argue or just state facts they assess you as high and boot your butt out the door. Nice place to put recovering addicts and alcholoics out in the street. They don't even test to see if your high just accuse you. Not right not right at all. Some one has to look into this program something is not right. They make the clients get food stamps and take around $100.00 from each person in the houses and use for groceries. However by my counts the money doesn't add up. Maybe someone should call the DA's office. I don't know if the director of the program knows what is going on or not. I'm not a patient there my friend is and I have heard some real bad stories. What a shame. I want answers and I want them now.