About this Recovery Home
The Shoulder is a recovery residence on Coleman Lane in Spanish Fort, Alabama, in Baldwin County on the Alabama Gulf Coast. It is a Christian treatment organization that runs licensed residential and outpatient addiction programs at a single campus east of Mobile Bay.
A Recovery Residence on Coleman Lane
Spanish Fort sits at the head of Mobile Bay, at the point where the Eastern Shore communities meet the causeway into Mobile. Coleman Lane is off the main corridors, which gives the campus the quiet a residential program needs while keeping Mobile's hospitals, courts and employers roughly fifteen minutes west. Residents are in Baldwin County, the fastest-growing county in Alabama, with the labor market of a much larger metro next door.
Licensed Levels of Care Behind This Sober Living Program
The Alabama Department of Mental Health lists three programs at this address: Level I outpatient treatment for adults, Level III.1 clinically managed low intensity residential care, and a Level III.01 transitional residential program. Those designations come from the ASAM criteria, and they describe a ladder. Someone can enter at the residential level, step down to transitional housing as stability returns, and continue in outpatient care from the same organization. Alabama's Department of Mental Health maintains the provider directory where those licensed levels are recorded, which is a meaningful check in a state with no registry of housing-only recovery residences.
A Faith-Based Approach to Recovery Housing
The organization describes its work as restoring individuals and families affected by alcohol and drug abuse through quality, affordable treatment in a safe, secure Christian environment. That framing tells a prospective resident something concrete. The daily program will have a faith component, the community will assume some shared language around it, and the cost model is built around affordability instead of private-pay maximums. People for whom that fits tend to know it immediately, and so do the people for whom it does not.
Transitional Recovery Housing After Treatment
The transitional residential program is the part that most resembles sober living. It is the stage where a resident is stable enough to work, handle a schedule and manage money, and still needs the address, the accountability and the people. Keeping that stage inside the same organization removes the handoff that so often breaks a recovery: no new intake, no new set of rules, no gap between the last day of one program and the first day of the next.
Spanish Fort, Bay Minette and Baldwin County Recovery Homes
Baldwin County is geographically enormous and spread thin, with Bay Minette as the county seat to the north and the population concentrated along the Eastern Shore and the beaches. Recovery housing is scarce across most of that footprint. A campus in Spanish Fort sits at the county's practical center of gravity, close to the causeway, the interstate and the bridge into Mobile, which is where most of the region's outpatient providers and jobs are. For someone leaving treatment anywhere in southwest Alabama, that is the reachable address.
What to Ask This Baldwin County Sober House
Certification through the Alabama Alliance for Recovery Residences is voluntary in this state, and a licensed treatment program is a different credential from a certified residence. Ask which program a bed falls under, what the cost is at each level and how it is calculated, how long a typical stay lasts before a step down, whether prescribed medication for opioid use disorder is accepted, what the faith component involves day to day, and what the discharge policy says. The answers should come in writing before a move-in date is set.
What items do I need to bring to the residential programs?
Storage space is limited. Please only bring what will fit into one dresser and small closet area.
-Toiletries: Shampoo, soap, razors, shaving cream, tooth paste, toothbrush
-Personal clothing: Weather appropriate clothing, nothing with offensive or derogatory messages or images
-Bedding (twin size): Sheets, blankets, pillows
-Other items: Valid photo ID, plastic storage bin, laundry detergent, towels and washcloths, alarm clock, laundry bag, clothes hangers, medications prescribed by a doctor (No narcotic medications are allowed on campus.)
Items Not Allowed:
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Alcohol, drugs (including Tianaa/ZaZa), or drug paraphernalia
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CBD products, including vape oils & edibles.
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DVDs or movies which promote the use of drugs or have an inappropriate theme
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Any type of electronic/video games
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Computers
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Dice or Playing Cards
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Unapproved Reading Materials
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Extension Cords
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Candles, wax warmers
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Animals or pets
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Personal TVs or other entertainment/viewing devices
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Personal refrigerators
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Hot plates or any kind of cooking device
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Lighter fluid
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Mouthwash containing alcohol
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Weapons of any kind (including knives and hunting equipment)
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Energy drinks (i.e. Red Bull, Monster, Redline, Bang, 5-hour Energy, etc.)
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Negative attitude
