Well-Run Recovery Homes Are An Important Part Of Addiction Recovery

The picture most Lower Bucks County residents might paint if asked to describe a normal recovery home isn’t necessarily a pretty one.

They might describe more than a dozen beds shoved inside a standard William Levitt-built home, occupants supplying the owner of the house with a check for a right to keep sleeping there and no set rules or structure. These homes, called “rogue homes,” by those in the recovery home community and government officials do exist, but homes of structure, love and support are available as well, owners said.

“I understand the concern the community has with some of these homes and I share their concerns,” said Ryan McCarthy, the owner and CEO of Steps to Recovery, a Levittown-based addiction treatment facility. “Recovery homes need to regulated and supervised effectively.”

“There are significant problems with some of the recovery houses in our community, but there is also a tremendous need for safe, structured, supportive housing that provide a platform for people to succeed,” McCarthy explained.

This is the goal that Bryan Kennedy, the owner and founder of Independence Lodge, which has locations in the Levittown area, set out to accomplish with his homes.

Kennedy is also the chairman of the Bucks County Recovery Home Association. The association is a self-regulating body that ensures the quality of the member homes and organizations.

Inside one of Independence Lodge’s houses in Bristol Township’s Croydon section, an outside onlooker probably would not be able to tell that the house is a recovery home at first glance. The exterior of the home is well maintained and the inside of the house looks no different from a residence a family might reside in.

In many ways, the residents of the home are a family as well, they said.

“The number one thing that we push is that this is a brotherhood,” said Albert Lamplugh, one of the house managers and residents of Independence Lodge.

From the minute a new guy steps through the doors at one of the houses, there is an immediate support system set up to help take care of and support them.

“I was in a really bad way and I had no one to talk to,” explained Ryan Jones, who first contacted Kennedy in June 2016 when he was having a particularly difficult Father’s Day. When LevittownNow.com spoke to him this summer, he was 14 months sober and is a manager of one of Independence Lodge’s homes.

Kennedy has a passion for helping people to stay in recovery due to his past of addiction. He is now seven and a half years clean. The new father got his start in a Bristol Township recovery home and a string of abuse.

“I never felt judged inside of a recovery house,” Kennedy explained.

While he was initially worried about being ridiculed or shamed at the house, he quickly found comradely and support from the other guys at the house. When he was supposed to spend two nights at his family’s home for Christmas, he thought about the guys at the house who couldn’t get home and returned early.

“I get to see these stories unfold for the guys coming through here,” Kennedy said. “These people are going to become responsible and accountable men.”

“We believe that quality houses are an integral part of the recovery process,” McCarthy said.

“It’s important to us that we have quality recovery house organizations in the community for our clients to go to after they complete treatment with us,” McCarthy further explained.

Independence Lodge differs from a lot of the rogue houses in the community. The homes in the Bucks County Recovery Home Association require strict structure. The men need to have jobs, are restricted by curfews, must attend meetings and must sign in and out whenever they leave their residence, Kennedy said.

“Guys come into recovery houses with a lot of shame, remorse and guilt,” Kennedy said.

Once they start to be productive and continue to play by the rules, those thoughts begin to dissipate.

“For the longest time, I didn’t even know what rules were,” Lampugh said. “We weren’t used to following he rules, we were used to doing whatever we wanted.”

The homes that people graduating from Steps to Recovery go to are different as well. The houses are licensed by the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs as transitional living facilities, McCarthy stated.

Independence Lodge, according to Kennedy, can easily identify three reasons that people are discharged from their program. They are: getting high or drunk while living there, being unable to meet their financial responsibilities and being unable to follow rules.

The structure and support helps many of the men stay in recovery, although it does not always work. It would be disingenuous to imply that every single person coming through the program was a success story, Kennedy explained.

The strong community relations between the Independence Lodge homes and neighbors prove the merits of a strong recovery home system.

In many instances, the residents of the homes will shovel neighbors’ driveways, mow their lawns help with plumbing, car troubles and more. Sometimes, neighbors will even be wearing Independence Lodge hoodies, Kennedy said.

Several neighbors who have spoken to LevittownNow.com have relayed in the past that Independence Lodge residents have been good neighbors.

“It’s not just about helping people, it’s about positively influencing the stream of life,” Independence Lodge resident Jones said.

“I think the popular perception is that these guys are criminals and that this is an alternative to prison,” Kennedy said.

The reality is that no one is mandated into Independence Lodge. Guys go there because they do not want to be at the mercy of their addictions anymore, Kennedy said.

The homes are family friendly and on any given day, especially on the weekends, kids will be in visiting and playing with their dads and parents will be checking in on their sons.

All the positivity within the house doesn’t insulate the residents and managers from criticism levied against the group. Whenever syringes or empty alcohol containers are found near the park, it seems like the blame falls to recovery houses, Kennedy said.

“I think that we’re the scapegoat, and I feel that it is unfair,” he further said,

A common thought brought up by the community is the idea that lots of other communities send their sick to Bucks County to get better. While the houses in the community also work with local people, that is often not the case, according to Kennedy.

While there are indeed a few local guys in Independence Lodge, many people in local treatment facilities go to recovery homes in other communities with the help of Independence Lodge. The change in scenery helps people in recovery by insulating them from people and places who influenced them, Kennedy explained.

“I really wish that people could just see what we are doing,” Lampugh said.

Since Kennedy’s first house opened on April 4, 2013, seven alumni of the program have gone on to become employees at treatment centers.

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