Helping Hands & Gateway House Overcoming Addiction

In the summer of 2020 we completed renovation of and opened the Helping Hands Gateway House. The Gateway House provides free and safe housing for up to four women at a time as we assist them in the process of obtaining admission to a long-term life recovery program. We do not provide detox, but we transport those needing it to a detox facility. We assist clients in obtaining needed ID cards, social security cards, birth certificates, or whatever is needed that they no longer have in their possession. When admission is obtained and a bed is available, we transport our clients to their long-term life recovery program and keep in touch with them as they continue their journey, attending their graduation if at all possible. In January 2022, the Gateway House began offering a 90 day re-entry program for women who have completed a recovery program designed to assist with a safe and inexpensive place to stay as they secure a job and work toward becoming independent while maintaining sobriety. We offer services to both men and women who are seeking treatment for substance abuse disorder. Sometimes that means finding transitional housing for someone being released on probation or parole. Sometimes that means we work with the District Attorney, client's attorney, and the judge so that our client is able to have sentencing furloughed to a year long treatment program. We receive many calls from concerned family members or friends asking if we can help their loved ones. Although we are located in a small county in Tennessee, we may secure the best program for our client in another state. Our county jail houses state prisoners, so we serve clients through the jail from across Tennessee and often from neighboring Alabama. We work with outpatient support groups such as NA, AA, Celebrate Recovery, Adult and Teen Challenge and SMART Recovery. Helping Hands offers our services free of charge. We are funded by donations from individuals, businesses, other charitable organizations, and churches in our area. The administrative assistant and house monitor are the only paid positions. The Executive Director and board members all serve as volunteers. Working with the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, we have a network of affiliated organizations, PEER Recovery Specialists, and recovery friends and neighbors ready to help our clients overcome addiction.