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Odyssey House Louisiana (OHL) is a nonprofit behavioral health care provider with an emphasis on addiction treatment. OHL was established in 1973 as a nonprofit residential substance abuse treatment facility with the mission of empowering people to conquer addiction. Today, Odyssey House offers a professional, structured and caring Therapeutic Community with comprehensive services and effective support systems that enable individuals to chart new lives and return to their communities as contributing members.
Residential Program
With capacity for 120 residents, the Odyssey House residential treatment program serves single men and women 18 years of age and older. In addition, Odyssey House is the only treatment program in the Greater New Orleans area which provides residential services to women with children. All program services are provided free of charge to treatment clients.
Odyssey House provides a residential program for the treatment of substance abuse addiction within the framework of a “therapeutic community.” The therapeutic community model is a consciously designed treatment environment in which residents learn to make changes in behaviors and attitudes that will enable them to lead a drug-free life. Through the program, individuals and their families learn to replace destructive patterns and behaviors with constructive communication and living skills. The benefits of such changes and choices – including improved self-esteem, constructive expression, positive relationships, and enhanced coping and living skills – ultimately lead to recovery and reintegration of the individual into his or her community.
The structure of Odyssey House is critical to the program. The therapeutic community provides clients with a secure and home-like atmosphere during a challenging period in their lives, while the program functions much like a family. Many clients within our program lack fundamental daily living skills and many come from fractured families and homes. New residents begin by learning or re-learning the basics of responsible daily living, from completing household duties to treating others with respect. Initially, they focus on making choices and adopting behaviors that will facilitate their success in the program, such as delaying gratification, expressing feelings appropriately, learning to rely on others, and being accountable for themselves and others.
Odyssey House provides a residential program for the treatment of substance abuse addiction within the framework of a “therapeutic community.” The therapeutic community model is a consciously designed treatment environment in which residents learn to make changes in behaviors and attitudes that will enable them to lead a drug-free life. Through the program, individuals and their families learn to replace destructive patterns and behaviors with constructive communication and living skills. The benefits of such changes and choices – including improved self-esteem, constructive expression, positive relationships, and enhanced coping and living skills – ultimately lead to recovery and reintegration of the individual into his or her community.
The structure of Odyssey House is critical to the program. The therapeutic community provides clients with a secure and home-like atmosphere during a challenging period in their lives, while the program functions much like a family. Many clients within our program lack fundamental daily living skills and many come from fractured families and homes. New residents begin by learning or re-learning the basics of responsible daily living, from completing household duties to treating others with respect. Initially, they focus on making choices and adopting behaviors that will facilitate their success in the program, such as delaying gratification, expressing feelings appropriately, learning to rely on others, and being accountable for themselves and others.
As clients matriculate through the program’s levels and treatment stages, they acquire increasing responsibilities and privileges within the therapeutic community. All residents follow a structured schedule of activities that include such therapeutic services as:
- Individual and group therapeutic counseling
- Family counseling
- Crisis counseling
- Educational and vocational assessment and training
- Parenting skills training
The comprehensive and effective support systems within the Odyssey House therapeutic community continue to benefit clients once they have completed treatment. In addition to equipping program graduates with new skills for living and working, Odyssey House helps them secure employment and permanent housing, and provides aftercare services as they return to their communities.
For more information on the Odyssey House Therapeutic Community, please contact Robert Chandler, Residential Program Manager at rchandler@ohlinc.org.
For more information on the Odyssey House Therapeutic Community, please contact Robert Chandler, Residential Program Manager at rchandler@ohlinc.org.
LEARN MORE
Acorns, Oak Trees, and a Lifetime of Recovery
Wayne Miller was a World Champion in gymnastics, National Sales Vice President for a prominent insurance company making a six-figure salary, a husband and a father. So, when he wound up at Odyssey House with 39 cents to his name, no one was more surprised than he was.
The Therapeutic Community
Odyssey House Louisiana was established in 1973 as a nonprofit residential substance abuse treatment facility and as the first true therapeutic community in New Orleans. Today, Odyssey House offers a professional, structured, and caring therapeutic community with comprehensive services and effective support systems that enable individuals to chart new lives and return to their communities as contributing members. But what exactly does “therapeutic community” mean?
Mini Odyssey
They say old habits die hard, but a group of OHL graduates are proving that new habits learned while in treatment at Odyssey can stick with you just as easily. Just a few blocks away from the OHL campus at 1125 N. Tonti, a mini-Odyssey is brewing at the Duvernay Residence on Canal St. with six recent OHL graduates residing there, actively participating in recovery meetings, and providing each other constant support.