First Step House - REACH

First Step House - REACH in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a senior living community that helps people with addiction and mental health problems, and you'll notice right away that they've built everything around recovery with a gentle, steady structure that seems to keep people feeling supported, and even though the place focuses a lot on helping adult men, including Veterans, with substance use disorders, there are also special programs for memory care, which means they serve seniors with Alzheimer's or other types of dementia and don't ignore the little things like reducing confusion or stopping wandering, and you'll see they keep families involved and meals are served every day-breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with snacks and coffee all the time, so nobody goes hungry or is left out of the community. The REACH initiative is one of their main programs and has unique features, including regular groups, a special Orientation Unit with 36 beds where new folks live for at least 14 days, and residential treatment centers with a total of more than 200 beds spread across three different sites in Salt Lake County, so if someone comes in needing help for substance use, the staff does a full assessment to see what kinds of therapies and support will fit them best, and then they update the plan as the person moves through recovery, which everyone says is important because some people need more time or different treatments than others. You'll see they offer individual therapy, group therapy, peer support, case management, housing help, and transportation, while also taking care of things like diabetes or incontinence, and they bring in master's-level clinicians and addiction specialists who usually have lots of experience, so if someone needs medication management, detox, harm reduction, or hospital care, those services are handled too, and they support recovery from beginning to end with plenty of structured activities, support groups, and educational resources, plus Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, DBT, and Medication Assisted Treatment when those seem right. They accept Medicaid and other funding for those who qualify, and usually work with outside groups to help folks who don't have much money. The buildings are open 24/7, most groups run during the weekdays, and case management happens on evenings and weekends if someone needs extra support or just some time to settle in; they've also got dorm-style rooms, a professional kitchen, common areas, group rooms, laundry, and specific beds for Veterans, all while encouraging community involvement in recovery and trying to meet everyone where they're at, so as people move into different stages of sobriety or need extra mental health or memory care help, there's always a plan in place to get them what they need, for as long as it takes, because nothing about recovery is quick or simple, and that's just the way things are done at First Step House - REACH.