About this Sober House
The Riverbank House is a men's sober house on Church Street in Laconia, New Hampshire, the seat of Belknap County. It sits in the downtown residential blocks of the Lakes Region's only city.
A Men's Sober House on Church Street
Church Street runs through the older residential fabric close to Laconia's downtown, a short walk from Main Street and the Union Avenue corridor. That position answers the question a man in early recovery is actually asking about an address: whether work, a meeting and a pharmacy are reachable on foot. In a city this compact they are, and that removes the transport problem from a first month that has enough problems in it already. The household is men only, so one set of expectations covers everyone and the common space serves one population.
What a Sober House Supplies
Peer recovery housing is not treatment and does not pretend to be. What a house of this kind provides is an address that holds, a household of men in comparable circumstances, and a set of expectations that stays the same from one week to the next. Residents keep their own counselors, prescribers and meetings, and the accountability that carries a person through a hard stretch comes from the people in the next room. Anyone who needs clinical supervision on site is looking for something else.
Certification and the Public Record in New Hampshire
New Hampshire designates a single agency to certify recovery residences, and the scheme is voluntary. A house that does not appear on the certified list is not thereby suspect: many long-standing New Hampshire houses have never entered the process, and certification is a snapshot of who has. What it supplies is an external record, and an applicant can ask for the same substance directly. Written fees and house rules before move-in. A written relapse and discharge policy. Somewhere outside the house to raise a complaint. New Hampshire's Department of Health and Human Services maintains statewide recovery housing information and the state registry that publicly funded referrals run through.
Recovery Housing in Laconia and the Lakes Region
Laconia holds nearly all of Belknap County's recovery housing, and its scale is the reason. The Belknap County Superior Court and county complex sit in the city, along with Concord Hospital Laconia, Lakes Region Community College, and the retail, hospitality and seasonal employment along Route 3 and around Weirs Beach. Men arriving from Meredith, Gilford, Tilton, Belmont or the towns north of Winnipesaukee are moving toward that concentration, because it is the one place in the Lakes Region where a court date, an appointment and a shift can all be handled in a single day.
What to Ask This Laconia Sober House
Applications go directly to the house. Ask what the weekly fee covers and what it does not, whether a house manager lives on site, how bedrooms are assigned, what happens after a relapse, whether medication for opioid use disorder is accepted, and how long the house has operated in Laconia. Where a house publishes little, those answers are the listing.
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.
Riverbank House Recovery Community for men is located in the little city of Laconia, in the heart of the beautiful Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Once a vibrant New England mill town in the 1800s, Laconia has matured into a four seasons recreational resort and antique shopping destination. The city boasts four lakes, twenty parks, and four public beaches. Our campus is situated along the banks of the gentle waterway connecting Lake Opechee to Lake Winnisquam, just a few blocks from Laconia's quaint downtown, the Public Library, Lakes Region General Hospital, churches, groceries, post office, ball fields, cafes, restaurants, and more than two dozen weekly 12-step meetings.
