Rutland Dismas House Men's Recovery Home

About this Recovery Home

Rutland Dismas House is a certified men's recovery residence in Rutland, Vermont, the shire town of Rutland County, operated by Dismas of Vermont. It opened in 1990 as the organization's second Vermont house and serves men transitioning out of incarceration.

A Men's Recovery Home Running Since 1990

Thirty-five years in one city is a long institutional memory. The organization was founded by a Rutland couple, and this house was the second address they opened. Residents live family-style, share weekday dinners with staff and volunteer cooks, and are held to a household routine that predates most of the people living in it. The address is not published, and admission runs through the house team.

What Certification Obliges This Sober House to Do

The residence holds certification from the Vermont Alliance for Recovery Residences. Certification requires documented policies, an annual onsite inspection, and a grievance route that runs outside the house, and it obliges the operator to put fees and rules in front of an applicant in writing before he commits. Vermont has no licensure scheme for recovery residences, so this is the standard that exists.

One of Two Dismas Recovery Homes in Rutland

The operator runs a second Rutland residence dedicated to women, opened in 2021. Two single-gender houses in one city means house meetings, bathrooms and shared space are written for one population in each, and it lets the organization serve a county-wide reentry population without mixing households. Residents of the two houses share the same city, the same staff network and the same volunteer base.

Recovery Housing in Rutland County

Rutland is the shire town and the service center for southwestern Vermont. Rutland Regional Medical Center, the county courthouse, the Turning Point Center of Rutland and Marble Valley Regional Transit all operate inside the city, and Route 7 connects north to Burlington and south to Bennington. A man returning to Rutland County from a Vermont correctional facility can meet a probation obligation, get to an appointment and hold a job from this address.

Satellite Apartments After a Dismas House

Residents in good standing who have completed at least three months may apply for one of the operator's Rutland satellite apartments, shared by three people. That step keeps the organization attached at the point where a reentry placement usually ends and a person is expected to hold a lease alone.