Stepping Stones Sober Living

About Stepping Stones Sober Living

Stepping Stones Sober Living is a sober living operator in Saint Paul, Minnesota, running certified recovery housing across Ramsey County. Nine of its residences hold certification from the Minnesota Association of Sober Homes, which makes it one of the larger certified providers in the capital city.

A Certified Saint Paul Recovery Housing Provider

Certification is voluntary in Minnesota, and this operator carries it on nine houses at once. Doing that across a portfolio takes more than good intentions. Fee schedules and house rules have to exist in writing at every address, discharge decisions have to follow a documented policy, and the complaint process has to work when a resident uses it. An operator maintaining certification house by house has built the administration to support it.

Nine Sober Homes in One City

All nine residences sit in Saint Paul:

• James House, on James Avenue in Saint Paul, for men.
• Tuscarora House, on Tuscarora Avenue in Saint Paul, for men.
• Hudson House, on Hudson Road in Saint Paul, for men.
• Wakefield #1, on Wakefield Avenue in Saint Paul.
• Wakefield #2, on Wakefield Avenue in Saint Paul.
• Armstrong House, on Armstrong Avenue in Saint Paul.
• Forster House, on Forster Avenue in Saint Paul, for women.
• Bay House, on Bay Street in Saint Paul, for women.
• The Firehouse, in Saint Paul. No street address is published for this residence.

Concentrating nine houses inside one city has a specific effect on residents. One application is measured against nine sets of openings, placement can account for household fit alongside availability, and a later move keeps a resident's job, meetings, providers and bus routes exactly where they are.

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

The operator runs single-gender households. The James, Tuscarora and Hudson houses serve men, and the Forster and Bay houses serve women. Keeping the split at the house level means shared space, meetings and rules are written for one population, and nobody is the only man or the only woman in a building.

What a NARR-Aligned Recovery Residence Owes a Resident

Certification runs against the NARR Quality Standards, and MASH is Minnesota's affiliate of the National Alliance for Recovery Residences. Each certified house discloses fees and rules in writing before move-in, keeps a written relapse and discharge policy, works under a published code of ethics, and accepts complaint review from outside the household. Those four commitments are what treatment programs check before they refer.

Referrals Into Ramsey County Recovery Housing

Saint Paul is the county seat, the state capital and the base for the discharge planners, probation officers, drug court staff and county case managers who place most people into recovery housing in the east metro. A certified operator with nine houses here is positioned to take those referrals, and a person applying on his own reaches the same office.

Questions for This Sober Living Operator

How long the company has operated in Saint Paul. Which houses currently have openings and how the households differ. What the fee is at each address, what it covers, and how deposits are refunded. Whether medication for opioid use disorder is accepted, and whether the answer is the same at every house. How a resident moves between houses, and how a complaint escalates past a house manager.