Grace House

About Grace House

Grace House is a women's recovery organization in Portland, Maine, whose program ends in a sober living phase. It operates a single location on Pleasant Avenue in Cumberland County, and it has been working with women in the city since 2010, when it was established as the first managed women's recovery residence in Portland.

How Grace House Works

The organization describes itself as having evolved into a long term women's licensed substance use treatment program, licensed under number SAA735510, covering ASAM 3.5 and 3.1 levels of care and finishing with a sober living phase. Clients take part in evidence-based clinical programming delivered by qualified behavioral health staff, and the organization holds Joint Commission accreditation and accepts MaineCare. Sober living at Grace House is therefore the closing stage of a clinical program rather than a separate service that can be entered on its own.

Grace House in Portland

Grace House runs one house, and the full picture of the program, the address and its place in state records is set out on the listing for that house in this directory. Portland gives the organization the advantages of the largest city in Maine: the state's deepest concentration of meetings, treatment providers, employment and transport, all within reach of women who are working through the program's later, lighter-touch stages.

A Long Presence in Women's Recovery

Women's recovery housing has always been thinner on the ground in Maine than men's, which is part of why the founding of Grace House in 2010, as the first managed women's recovery residence in Portland, is worth recording. The organization's move since then into licensed treatment, with sober living retained as the closing phase, reflects how far the service has traveled from that starting point.

Leadership Behind This Portland Recovery Housing Provider

Grace House was founded by Sarah Coupe, who directs the organization and holds a degree in behavioral health and human services. She was a founding member of the Maine Association of Recovery Residences and serves on its board, which places the organization inside the body that certifies recovery residences across Maine. For a woman weighing one Portland provider against another, that is a real signal about the standards the organization has committed to. Leadership this concentrated also has a day-to-day effect: decisions about admission, fees and discharge are made by a small number of people who can be reached and held to them.

What to Ask This Women's Recovery Housing Operator

Because sober living here is the closing phase of a clinical program, the first question is about the door. How does a woman enter, is an assessment and referral required, and can the sober living phase be reached without completing the earlier stages. From there the questions are the ordinary operator-level ones. How long a wait is normal at the point of intake. What MaineCare covers and what the resident pays herself. How fees and any deposit are documented before a move. Which treatment providers, jails and courts refer women into the program. And how a concern escalates past the staff on shift to the organization's director, and past the organization to the accrediting body that reviews it. A licensed, accredited provider should have all of that in writing.