How it works
Real rules.
Real results you earn.
Merit is a peer-support recovery home, not a treatment center. The structure is simple: stay sober, work or attend IOP, go to meetings, pull your weight, and move up by what you do.
How accountability works here
Structure you can count on.
Merit isn't treatment. It's a peer-support home with real rules. We connect you to IOP, counseling and meetings, and the house keeps you honest while you do the work.
Work or IOP in 30 days
A job, school, volunteer work or an intensive outpatient program within your first 30 days.
Random testing
Drug and alcohol tests at least twice a month, plus tests for cause. The house stays substance-free.
Curfew and meetings
An 11 pm curfew on weeknights and midnight on weekends. At least 3 recovery meetings a week and a sponsor or recovery coach.
The house comes first
A weekly house meeting, a chore rotation, and no overnight guests. Everyone pulls their weight.
Three phases, earned, not timed
Foundation
Earlier curfew, weekly check-ins with the house manager, and a job or IOP lined up. Move up when you've shown you can keep the basics.
Build
Steady work, rent paid on time, and a clean record in the house. You get the standard curfew and more freedom.
Lead
Mentor new brothers, help run house meetings, and plan your next move to independent living.
The Merit Code
Five rules we live by.
Earn it every day
Sobriety isn't handed to you. Put in the work, own your recovery, and take pride in what you build.
Own your stuff
No excuses, no shifting blame. Accountability isn't a punishment here. It's the tool that keeps you moving.
Do the work
Show up, hold down a job, clean up your own mess, and do the right thing when nobody is looking.
I am my brother's keeper
Nobody does this alone. Speak the truth straight, pull each other up, and leave drama at the door.
Rebuild the trust
Words don't mean much until your actions back them up. Prove every day that you're a man of your word.
A normal week
What a week looks like.
- Every day: work, school, volunteer hours or IOP. Chores done before you leave. Home by curfew.
- 3 or more times a week: recovery meetings of your choice, plus time with your sponsor or recovery coach.
- Once a week: the house meeting, where the house settles business and holds each other to the code.
- At random: drug and alcohol tests, at least twice a month.
- In Phase 1: a weekly check-in with the house manager about your job, your plan and your progress.
Merit is an abstinence-based home. Residents can't be on medication-assisted treatment such as methadone or buprenorphine (Suboxone). Other prescribed medications are fine; they're kept in a lockbox and logged.
Admissions
From first call to your own bed.
You'll need to have finished detox and be ready to do the work.
- 1Call or apply
By phone or online. We answer within 2 hours during the day.
- 2Phone screen
Same day. We'll talk through where you are, your plan and how you'll pay.
- 3Tour and interview
In person or by video, within 48 hours. Meet the house manager.
- 4Decision
A straight answer within 24 hours.
- 5Move in
A drug screen, your signed agreement and your first payment. Then you're home.
A bed is open.
Come earn it.
Call 210-538-4833 or apply online. We'll get back to you today.