McShin Recovery Resource Foundation

About McShin Recovery Resource Foundation

McShin Recovery Resource Foundation is a sober living operator in Richmond, Virginia, running thirteen certified recovery residences across the city and Henrico County. Founded in 2004, this peer recovery organization describes itself as Virginia's leading peer-driven recovery community organization and publishes 134 beds across its houses.

A Richmond Recovery Housing Provider Built on Peer Support

Two things make this operator unusual among Virginia recovery housing providers. The first is scale: thirteen residences and 134 beds is one of the larger certified portfolios in the state, concentrated tightly enough that residents move between houses without changing neighborhoods. The second is that the housing sits inside a program. The foundation runs a 15,000-square-foot recovery community center open 365 days a year and a 45-day recovery program, and its staff and peer workforce are largely people in recovery. A resident of one of these houses has an address and a daily destination from the same organization.

Thirteen Sober Living Homes in Richmond and Henrico County

The foundation's residences, as published on the Virginia state register:

• New York House, 1020 New York Avenue, Glen Allen, for men.
• McWalker House, 4817 Copelin Road, Richmond, for men.
• Brookfield House, 5919 Brookfield Road, Richmond, for men.
• Westlake House, 2301 Dumbarton Road, Henrico, for women.
• Scott House, 2400 Dumbarton Avenue, Henrico, for men.
• Celona House, 209 Celona Drive, Richmond, for men.
• Smith House, 5317 Smith Avenue, Henrico, for women.
• Chamberlayne House, 5401 Chamberlayne Road, Richmond, for men.
• Hilliard House, 2915 Hilliard Road, Henrico, for men.
• McSonny House, 4815 Belle Glade Drive, Richmond, for men.
• Clark House, 2220 Clark Street, Henrico, for men.
• Destiny House, 2912 Dellrose Avenue, Henrico, for women.
• Brena House, 602 Rex Avenue, Richmond, for women.

Nine serve men and four serve women. The cluster is deliberate: most of the Henrico houses and the recovery community center fall within about a mile of the Dumbarton Road corridor in Lakeside, and the Richmond houses sit on the north side and in the West End along the same bus network.

Certification Across the Portfolio of Sober Homes

All thirteen residences are certified and appear on the state register of recovery residences that the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services publishes by address. Twelve of the thirteen rows name VARR, the Virginia Association of Recovery Residences, as the accrediting body, at Level of Support 2 or 3. Virginia makes recovery residence certification mandatory and criminalizes operating without it, so certification alone says less about a Virginia house than it would elsewhere. The useful fact here is that the operator runs a laddered portfolio in which the structure at each address is published, so an applicant is being placed at a level someone chose for a reason.

Men's and Women's Sober Houses Run as Separate Households

Every residence is single-gender, and the split is at the house level, so rules, meetings and shared space are written for one population. Among the women's houses, Smith House accepts pregnant residents and Destiny House accepts women with children, which is the scarcest category in Virginia recovery housing. Among the men's houses, most run at Level 2 and Scott House runs at Level 3, so an applicant who needs more structure has somewhere specific to be sent.

One Application Across Thirteen Recovery Homes

Applications go to the foundation instead of to individual houses, which is the practical argument for a multi-house operator. A man is considered across nine addresses and two levels of support, a woman across four. When a placement turns out wrong after a month, the fix is a conversation with staff who already know the resident, and the fee structure and expectations travel with him or her to the new address.

Serving Richmond, Henrico County and the Region

Richmond is an independent city that belongs to no county, and Henrico County's seat is that same city while not being part of it. Working across both, this operator's footprint covers the region's outpatient providers, its courts, VCU Health, and the retail, warehouse and food service employment that fills most first jobs after treatment. People leaving treatment in the counties beyond usually find the Richmond and Henrico corridor is the nearest address within reach of all of it, and the state's register of certified recovery residences shows how much of that supply the foundation carries.

Who These Virginia Sober Homes Are For

The houses suit people leaving detox, residential treatment or incarceration who need predictable days and peer accountability, including mothers with children and pregnant women who are usually turned away elsewhere. Anyone needing clinical supervision on site is a poor match, since medical and therapeutic care comes from providers outside the houses. The foundation takes referrals from treatment providers and courts across the region, and residents who arrive on their own meet the same expectations as the ones who arrive with a case manager.