Kennebec House

About Kennebec House

Kennebec House is a men's sober living organization in Augusta, Maine, made up of two certified recovery homes. Both houses are in Augusta, the Kennebec County seat, and both are certified by the Maine Association of Recovery Residences at Level 2. The organization states its mission simply: leading addiction recovery through hope, healing, and change.

About Kennebec House

Kennebec House is recovery housing rather than a licensed clinical program. Neither the organization nor its two addresses appears in the Maine Department of Health and Human Services overview of licensed substance use disorder residential treatment facilities. What Kennebec House provides instead is a supervised, substance-free place to live alongside other men in recovery, with the day-to-day work of rebuilding a life happening in the community rather than inside a program.

The organization is owner-involved in a way that larger providers often are not. House managers have built trust during their time at the houses and are available around the clock, and one of the owners attends house meetings on a regular basis and is reachable by phone. For residents, that means the people making decisions about the houses are people they actually see.

The Bridge Street and Franklin Street Homes

Kennebec House operates two homes in Augusta, which it refers to as the Bridge Street home and Franklin Street. The organization presents them as one community rather than two competing programs: whether a resident is at the Bridge Street home or Franklin Street, they will have a diverse group of housemates to help them in their day to day recovery journey. Both are men's houses, both hold MARR Level 2 certification, and both operate under the same expectations and the same management.

Having two houses in one small city gives the organization some flexibility about where a man is placed, and it means a move between houses does not have to mean leaving Augusta, changing employers or dropping out of an outpatient schedule.

Who Kennebec House Serves

The houses serve men only, at varying stages of recovery. Kennebec House accepts men coming to it directly from incarceration as well as men early in recovery, and it frames that openly: whether a resident arrives as a recent inmate or early in recovery, the freedom available without the chains of substance or alcohol use means he can make his own path. Residents come from a variety of backgrounds and span many generations, which the organization treats as a strength, since a mixed house brings a range of perspectives to guide a newer resident.

Reentry housing is one of the harder gaps to fill in Maine, because a man leaving custody often needs an address before anything else can be arranged. A provider that takes people straight from incarceration is doing something specific for the region.

Certification and Standards

Both Kennebec House homes are certified by the Maine Association of Recovery Residences at Level 2, and the organization describes itself as being made up of two MARR level 2 certified homes. The MARR certified residence directory lists Kennebec House in Augusta at Level 2. Certification means the houses have been reviewed against the state association's standards for recovery residences, which covers how a house is run, how residents are treated and what the operator is accountable for.

Recovery Housing in Augusta and Kennebec County

Augusta is the state capital and the largest service center in Kennebec County, which puts courts, state offices, outpatient providers, employers and public services within reach of a resident without a car. For men returning to the central Maine region, that concentration matters more than it might in a larger city, because the surrounding Kennebec County towns are small and spread out.

Kennebec House places no restrictions on how long a man can stay. The organization pairs that with an expectation of progress, noting that although there are no restrictions on length of time in the home, residents are in recovery to rebuild their lives. Its stated focus is on restoring life skills, employment and independence.