Emma House Women's Recovery House

About this Recovery House

Emma House is a women's sober living home in Gary, Indiana, in Lake County. It carries Level II designation on the state's DMHA Recovery Residence list and is operated by Emma House Inc, a program of the City of Refuge Christian Church founded by Pastor and Mrs. Pirtle to serve women rebuilding their lives after addiction and homelessness.

A Women's Sober House on Maryland Street

This sober house in Gary houses up to twelve women at a time, and staying clean and sober is a condition of remaining in the house. Emma House takes women with an identified alcohol or drug problem, women who are homeless, women with mild mental health conditions, and women referred through community corrections, parole or probation, a wider intake than many single-gender sober houses accept.

What Level II Designation Means

Indiana's DMHA Recovery Residence list designates Emma House at Level II, the tier for peer-supported housing with a defined structure short of on-site clinical staffing. The designation reflects a state review of how the house is run, independent of any individual resident.

Help Finding Work and a Permanent Address

Volunteers connected to Emma House work with residents on two practical fronts while they live there: lining up employment and searching for permanent housing to move into afterward. That combination treats sobriety and stability as a single package, addressed at the same time.

Recovery Housing in Gary and Lake County

Gary sits in Lake County in Northwest Indiana, inside Chicago's metropolitan orbit, and the region's transit and job market give residents leaving Emma House a wider range of employment within reach than a smaller Indiana city could offer. Crown Point, the county seat, and the broader Region host the courts and probation offices that refer some of Emma House's residents in the first place.