About this Recovery House
Bordentown Avenue House is a men's recovery home in Parlin, New Jersey, in Middlesex County. Parlin is a section of Sayreville, and the house takes its name from the road that carries most of the traffic through it, which is also the road that connects it to almost everything a resident needs.
A Men's Sober House on Bordentown Avenue
The house serves men in recovery. Bordentown Avenue runs through the older residential heart of Parlin, past the storefronts and small employers that line it, and out toward Route 9 and the Garden State Parkway at either end. That matters more than it sounds. Someone in the first ninety days is usually assembling a life out of a job, a meeting schedule and an appointment or two, and an address on a road with sidewalks and bus service is the difference between assembling it and waiting for a ride.
Sober Living in Parlin and Sayreville
Parlin is not a town of its own. It is a section of the Borough of Sayreville, a Middlesex County municipality of roughly forty-five thousand people on the south bank of the Raritan. Sayreville carries its own police, its own schools and its own municipal court, and it sits at the point where the Parkway, Route 9 and Route 35 come together. For a man living in recovery housing here, that means the entry-level jobs of the whole Amboys corridor are reachable: warehousing and distribution along the Route 9 spine, retail in Old Bridge and East Brunswick, restaurant work in South Amboy.
Recovery Housing and Middlesex County Services
New Brunswick is the county seat, twenty minutes up Route 18, and it holds what a resident is most likely to need from the county: the courthouse, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, the Rutgers campuses and the densest cluster of outpatient substance use providers in central New Jersey. Middlesex County is the second most populous county in the state, so the meeting list is long and the provider list is longer. A resident of a Parlin sober house is inside that network without living in the middle of it, which suits people who want the services without the noise.
How New Jersey Licenses Cooperative Sober Living Residences
There is no certifying body for recovery residences in New Jersey. No state agency and no national affiliate issues certifications here, and any claim of a certification level on a New Jersey house should be read with that in mind. The real credential is a Department of Community Affairs license: a cooperative sober living residence is a licensed class of rooming and boarding house, subject to inspection and to a complaint process the state administers. A working guide to licensing a New Jersey sober living home sets out what the license obliges and who has to hold one.
What to Ask Before Moving Into This Parlin Sober House
Applications go directly to the house. The questions that get you the most information in the shortest call are the ones about money, structure and exits. What is the weekly fee, what does it include, and what deposit is due at move-in. Is there a curfew, and is there a manager living in the house. How soon must a new resident be working or in a program. What is the written policy after a relapse, and does a resident get their deposit back. And does the house accept residents taking medication for opioid use disorder. Every one of those answers should exist in writing before anyone signs anything.
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.
Residents must be clean and sober with a motivation and commitment to grow and change their lives for the better. As such, all residents will be asked to agree to remain in an active recovery program.
It is a house of equals who share in the responsibilities of keeping the home clean and safe for all residents. There are weekly meetings to discuss home finances, chores, improvement suggestions and any other issues that may arise. This will help all residents build a home that is strong, safe and happy.
