About this Sober House
87 Ohio Street is a Fresh Start Sober Living of Maine recovery home in Bangor, Maine, and the house the organization started with. Bangor is the seat of Penobscot County, and this address on Ohio Street was the first property Fresh Start, Inc. bought, on 9 October 2018. It now sits inside a network the operator says has grown to 21 sober living residences across the Bangor area.
The House Where Fresh Start Began
Fresh Start describes the purchase of this home as the point at which an idea became something real: the dream became a reality when the very first home was purchased on October 9th 2018. Every house the organization has opened since, in Bangor, in Brewer and in Orono, followed from it. The block has since filled out. In July 2022 Fresh Start opened a second recovery residence immediately next door at 89 Ohio Street, and the operator notes that the newer house is next door to the first house it opened, so the two stand side by side on the same street.
A Walkable Corner of Bangor
The operator describes 87 Ohio Street as close to the public library, the city bus depot, many employment opportunities and some great dining. That placement does quiet work for someone rebuilding a routine. The bus depot connects the house to the rest of the Bangor area, and the library and nearby employers can be reached on foot, which removes one of the ordinary obstacles to early recovery in a rural state where a car is often assumed. Fresh Start makes the same point about its houses in general, saying they sit on the bus route and close to services.
Certification and the MARR Register
Fresh Start Sober Living of Maine is certified by the Maine Association of Recovery Residences. A Maine television report recorded MARR certifying the organization's first two houses in late 2019, a step that made Fresh Start the first MARR-certified sober house north of Augusta. MARR maintains a public register of the recovery residences it certifies in Maine, which is where the certification of any Maine sober living home can be checked.
Living at 87 Ohio Street
Fresh Start's homes are open to both men and women seeking a healthy, stable and supportive lifestyle, and each individual house is run as a single-gender residence. The organization frames what it offers as a community rather than a program, saying it believes in the power of community to help individuals overcome addiction and build fulfilling lives.
A recovery residence is not treatment. It is a drug and alcohol free household shared by people in recovery, run to rules that everyone living there has agreed to, with a house manager responsible for holding them. What a house like this one offers is time and stability: somewhere settled to live while the rest of a life, work, health, relationships and money, is put back together. The longevity of this address is part of what it offers. It has been recovery housing since 2018, long enough for the organization around it to grow from a single house into a network across three towns, and long enough for its place in the local recovery community to be settled rather than new.
Applying to 87 Ohio Street
Applications are handled by Fresh Start rather than by the individual house. The published route runs through an application, an intake assessment and an interview, followed by orientation once a place is offered. Any controlled medications a resident brings are securely stored and managed by the house manager. The organization also publishes its house rules and a member handbook, so what is expected of a resident can be read before applying rather than discovered afterwards.
About Our Sober Living Addiction Recovery House
Sober living homes are group residences for people who are recovering from addiction. In most instances, people who live in sober homes have to follow certain house rules and contribute to the home by doing chores. Most importantly, residents must stay sober throughout their stay in the home.
