Our Mission.
Through peer-mentoring, staff with lived experience, recovery meetings & community engagement, we build a community of inclusion that reaches far beyond the individual experiencing addiction to their families, friends and greater society.
Moving from Addiction to Connection.
Vision Statement
The Story of Jericho Road.
In the early 1990's, our founder Ray Desmarais began the Jericho Road Coffeehouse as a weekly drop-in for marginalized persons.
By 1997 Jericho Road had opened it first home for men living with mental health issues. Over the years, Jericho continued to expand and grow with more homes to provide further support for men in need. Around 2005, Jericho Road developed the Discipleship House, or D-House for short. This 9-month residential treatment program is our response to the epidemic of addiction.
We strongly believe that the opposite of addiction is connection. Since a life of isolation is often the norm for persons with substance use and concurrent disorders, Jericho Road encourages life in community. Meals are served family style, chores and duties are shared, and the program is based on 12-step peer-supported principles, which help residents develop a sense of belonging and shared responsibility for their community and their recovery.
We are blessed to provide each resident with their own bedroom to respect independence and privacy, while encouraging connection in our common areas with conversation, group activities and that needed relaxation time.
Jericho's founder - Ray Desmarais
In 2018, Jericho Road developed the Servant-Leader in Training Internship. This provides graduates of the Discipleship House an opportunity to take on leadership roles within our community and develop workplace and life experience.
Throughout the history of the Discipleship House, we have always known and seen the effects of addiction being a family disease. In the beginning of 2020, we again responded to a growing need in our community and started our Family Support meetings. These weekly meetings provide a safe and anonymous space for the family and friends of people with substance use disorders.
As the infamous year of 2020 continued, the COVID-19 pandemic brought to light the need for expansion to meet the decline in available recovery options. Expanding our residential program has always been on our hearts, yet the pandemic brought us to that leap of faith much quicker than anticipated. The ongoing isolation and lockdowns were devastating for vulnerable communities, with an increase in substance use, overdose, suicide and substance related deaths.
In response to the ongoing social isolation that COVID-19 brought on, we expanded the Discipleship House from 9-14 beds, grew our online presence and created spaces for people to connect from afar with programs and virtual conversations like The Recovery Connection Podcast, and it’s predecessor 3 O’clock Talks.
From its establishment in 1993, Jericho Road has provided safe, substance free, affordable homes for men living with addiction and concurrent disorders. Today, our residents both past and present, are consistently supported with an open-door policy to all our homes. We welcome them into our family to grow with support and expand our ripple to the broader community. We help individuals build support networks of regular 12-step and recovery meetings, sponsors, and connection to faith communities.
Jericho Road currently has 14 beds in the D-House addiction treatment, and 19 beds in our continuing care homes for a total of a 33-bed capacity. On average 21 men participate in the D-House each year. Of the residents who complete the program, many of the men choose to stay at one of our continuing care homes to receive ongoing support as they grow in relationship with God, self and their community.