The Mary DeVeau Women’s Sober Living House is a safe and supportive environment for women in recovery from alcohol and/or drug addiction.

First and foremost, The Mary DeVeau House is a home. As other homes represent a safe place to eat and sleep, while sharing the details of our lives with loved ones, The Mary DeVeau House is an oasis for women in recovery from alcoholism and/or drug addiction.

As the only sober house of its kind in Northern New York, we accept women who have thirty days of documented recovery and who have been recommended for a disciplined, long-term residential environment in order to strengthen their recovery tools and relearn healthy life skills.

 

Practicing what is preached

A message from Loretta Rietsema, founder and President of the Mary DeVeau House

“Living in a sober house saved my life. I say this today with the same passion that I did upon returning home in late 2000, after spending six months in a sober living house in New Mexico. I also remember the fear that ate at me while I debated whether or not to take the suggestion from my counselors in rehab to find a long-term living situation in a group home, away from my family. As a wife and mother of three young children, I didn’t want to believe it was possible for me to ‘abandon’ my family – not realizing that I had abandoned them years before, when alcohol had quietly and completely taken their place in my sick world. I also didn’t want to accept that living with other recovering women would strengthen and support me during my first days and months out of rehab – I did not trust women – heck, I didn’t even LIKE women.

AND . . . Every time I talked myself out of seeking further help, I remembered the promise that I had made to God? Myself? Who knows – that I would do ANYTHING that was put in my path that would help me to just stop the drinking, just stop the madness, just stop the pain.

Finally and thankfully, I made the leap and the miracle happened.

What I found in a sober living house was love, hope, and joy – at first, incredibly, in the women I was living with, and then even more incredibly, in myself. Stripped of a lifetime of ‘props’ (family, education, career, etc.), I was forced to start to learn not only who I really was, but more importantly, who I wasn’t. It was the most terrifying, exhilarating, and ultimately freeing experience in my life – and that was just the beginning!

We at the Mary DeVeau House look forward to welcoming you to an experience that will, if you allow it, change you and so, change your life.”

 

Board of Directors

• Loretta Rietsema, President
• Tracie McCarthy, Secretary
• Jennifer Kowalczyk, Treasurer
• Sally Bordeleau
• Tom Latinville
• Trevor Laughlin