Welcome!

Conduct a Needs Assessment

A methodology and resource list for assessing what your rural community actually needs before you develop recovery housing. Covers zoning, service availability, employment opportunities, local sources of support, and public attitudes including NIMBYism and stigma — with attention to running an assessment when resources are limited.

7 Strategies to Tame Stress

Stress is inevitable, yet many of us struggle to cope effectively when we encounter stressful situations. We resort to unhealthy outlets like procrastinating or overeating—typically making our problems worse. Most of us know that managing stress in a healthy way benefits our well-being, relationships, job performance, and more. But how do we get there? In this course, you’ll learn to tame stress by first understanding the difference between healthy and unhealthy coping strategies. Then, you’ll learn seven effective techniques that can help you relieve stress and regain control.

How to Handle NIMBYism

A methodology and checklist for responding to "Not In My Backyard" opposition. Explains what drives NIMBYism, the tactics opponents use — including portraying developers as outsiders profiting at locals' expense, which cuts especially deep in small communities — and how to respond proactively before it causes design changes, delays, or permit denials.

Webinar

Working with Challenging Behaviors: Turning Behavioral Incidents into Transformational Experiences

We shouldn't be surprised when people recovering from substance use and/or mental health challenges struggle to function well in community living. Their past traumatic experiences and broken trust have resulted in them adopting destructive coping strategies. Residence operators should not only expect challenging behavior, but should develop a wide repertoire of trauma-informed responses that help residents develop essential life skills. We must move beyond removing residents for "bad behavior".

Re-Entry Considerations for Rural Recovery Houses

This course reviews considerations that should be taken for those who will be housing individuals that are re-entering the community after incarceration.

How to Create a Strategic Plan

A methodology and resource list for building a strategic plan for your recovery home, whether the goal is serving more residents or diversifying your funding. Explains how a plan aligns goals with mission, keeps everyone working toward the same end, and creates a lasting framework for decision-making — including how to do it where rural resources are thin.

Webinar

PAX Tools for New Beginnings to Inspire a Stronger Tomorrow

Learn how PAX Tools for New Beginnings uses evidence-based, trauma-informed strategies to support women in recovery and strengthen relationships with their children and families. This webinar explores practical approaches for building self-awareness, self-regulation, communication, and relationship skills that can be integrated into everyday recovery settings and carried into the home and family environment.

CPR: Hands Only

This is a high level course designed to support recovery house operators, staff, and clients to understand how to respond to minor injuries that may occur in the home.

Selecting a Recovery Management System

Learn what to consider when selecting a Recovery Management System (RMS) for a recovery residence. This guide explores key factors, including program needs, system functionality and integration, reporting, data security, training and support, costs, and data ownership, to help recovery housing providers choose a system that supports efficient operations, accountability, and data-informed decision-making.

Webinar

From Withdrawal to Regulation: The Brain's Timeline for Early Recovery

Amy Jeppesen explores the neurobiology of recovery, reframing challenging early-recovery behaviors as neurobiological responses rather than character failures - the four brain systems impacted by addiction, the four phases of recovery from acute withdrawal through early stabilization, dopamine and cortisol dynamics, and practical recovery housing strategies built on structure, co-regulation, and scaffolding support.

Finding the Balance: Your Recovery House and Alumni Support

Alumni support is a critical factor in building a healthy support network for your recovery house. You can gain valuable insights, referrals, and new opportunities by building strong and lasting connections with your alumni. By the end of this course, participants can use these best practices to build upon the action plan for their recovery house Alumni Network you began in our course Optimizing Success.