Adults 18 and older. Our average Villager is in their mid-twenties.
People coming out of rehab, detox, or a treatment program who already know that going straight home is not the plan.
Orthodox, frum, traditional and unaffiliated Jews who want a kosher, Shomer Shabbos environment without anyone imposing religion on them.
Villagers come to us from Monsey, Brooklyn, Lakewood and the Five Towns, and also from across the country and from around the world. More than one family has put a son on a plane because there was nowhere closer that understood both the addiction and the Yiddishkeit.
We would rather tell you now than waste your time.
We are not a rehab. We are not a detox. We are not a psychiatric facility. We do not provide medical care or supervision.
If someone is still actively using and needs to detox, that has to happen in a medical setting first. Call us anyway and we will help you find one.
If someone is in acute psychiatric crisis, we are not the right level of care.
Every Villager is required to be in therapy, and under psychiatric care where that applies. We help you find the right people. We are not the clinical provider ourselves.
If you are not sure whether we are the right fit, call and we will talk it through honestly. Sometimes the answer is a different program, and we will tell you that.
Most sober living homes are built around compliance. House rules, drug tests, a curfew, a bed. Those things matter and we have them. But they are not what keeps someone sober.
For a frum person in recovery there is a specific problem a general sober living home cannot solve. You can get clean somewhere with no kosher kitchen, no minyan, and nobody who understands what it is to walk into shul for the first time afterward and wonder who knows. But you cannot rebuild a life there, because the life being rebuilt is a Jewish one.
Here is what that looks like day to day.
That last one matters more than people expect. Plenty of Villagers arrive angry at religion, or worn out by it, or convinced they are too far gone to be wanted. Making room for that instead of pushing against it is usually where the way back begins.
Twelve-step meetings at least three times a week, with rides provided. Therapy. Work, or looking for work. The gym.
Wednesday is family dinner, with Villagers, staff and alumni at one table. There are weeknight programs and weekly trips.
Then Shabbos.
Across the year: Yom Tov together, a summer camping Shabbaton, Thanksgiving, the Super Bowl, New Year's, and Soberfest, the largest sober Purim event in the world.
There is a curfew. There is no dress code. You will most likely have a roommate.
We are not currently covered by insurance. Some scholarships may be available on a needs basis, and it is worth asking.
That covers housing, meals cooked by a chef, gym membership, transportation, clinical oversight, case management, and the community itself. It does not cover your therapy or psychiatry, which are billed separately by your own providers.
Most programs in this category will not put a number on a page. We think a family working out whether they can do this deserves to know before they pick up the phone.
The average stay is six to eight months.
Some people need less. Many need more and move through the Step-Up homes on the way to living independently.
We do not push anyone out on a schedule, and we do not hold on to anyone who is ready to go.
Most Villagers do not live in Rockland County when they arrive.
We are in Suffern, near Monsey, close enough for family to visit and far enough from the people and places that were part of the using. That distance is deliberate.
Families come to us from across the United States, from Israel, and from further. We have done this with parents in other time zones many times, and we will walk you through how visits, Shabbos and communication work for your situation.
You will reach a real person, usually within a few hours. We will ask what has been going on and what you have already tried. There is no intake script and no pressure.
Everything you tell us stays between us. You can call just to talk it through. Nobody has to decide anything today.
Talk to someone today
“Traditional sober living is about getting off drugs and following house rules. The Village focuses on belonging and attachment first. Once clients feel good about themselves, THEN they’re motivated to get jobs and build independent lives.”
