About this Sober House
Men's Firstep is a men's recovery residence in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the seat of Oklahoma County. It is OKARR Certified at Level 2 and operated by OKC Metro Alliance, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has run long-term residential recovery in the metro for more than fifty years. The campus sits on acreage in south Oklahoma City, in the 73165 ZIP code.
A Long-Term Men's Sober Living Campus
Firstep is a work recovery program built on the social model. Residents are hired directly by the organization or placed with partner work sites, work up to forty hours a week, and most of that wage is withheld to fund the program. There is no out-of-pocket cost to a resident or his family. Everything else, meals, transportation to and from work sites and appointments, Twelve Step meetings, life skills classes and mental health services, comes with the placement. The minimum stay is six months and a resident may stay up to two years.
Capacity and Housing on the Men's Recovery Home Campus
The operator publishes 66 resident beds on the men's campus, with a further 20 single-occupancy apartments in the Men's Lodge. The lodge is graduate housing, offered at the men's campus only, for residents who have completed the program and still need help getting established: full-time employment elsewhere, financial planning and a route to their own housing. That progression inside one campus is unusual, and it answers the question that ends most recovery housing stays, which is where a man goes next.
OKARR Certification and This Oklahoma City Sober House
Both Firstep programs achieved certification with the Oklahoma Alliance for Recovery Resources in July 2020 and have recertified each year since. The men's residence is certified at Level 2, the monitored tier. Certification binds a house to a published code of ethics, written disclosure of fees and rules before move-in, a written relapse and discharge policy, and an external complaint process. Oklahoma does not require it of standalone recovery residences.
Admission Criteria for This Men's Recovery Housing
Firstep publishes what it expects. A resident is over eighteen, living with an addiction to drugs or alcohol, willing and able to work full time, participating in the Twelve Step program, and able to self-administer medication. Personal vehicles are not permitted on campus and all off-campus trips are supervised. Behavioral health services are provided through a partnership with NorthCare, and onsite GED classes are available.
Statewide Referrals and Sober Living in Oklahoma County
Referrals reach Firstep from program graduates, attorneys, counselors, ministers, social workers, physicians, Twelve Step groups, the courts and jail alternative programs, including drug courts operating in fifty-nine Oklahoma counties. The organization serves the whole state from Oklahoma City, which is both the state capital and the county seat. The street address of the campus is not published, and admission runs through a screening with the operator.
