FARMINGTON — Lifeline for ME is bringing Franklin County its first residence for men recovering from substance use, mental illness, poverty and incarceration.

“I kind of stumbled on this house on accident,” Amanda Ricci, owner of Lifeline for ME and chief administrative officer, said. “I was looking on Craigslist actually for apartments for a client that we were working with in our case management program.

“I saw this house and I just reached out to the landlord. I said, ‘Hey, do you think we could do a recovery residence? Would you lease it to us for that purpose?’ We had some conversations about what that would look like and what the expectations and the rules would be, and they took a chance on us and allowed us to do that.”

“It’s such a needed service that I just said, ‘OK, we’ll start small,” she said. “And we’ll see what happens from there. We’ll worry about the bigger house and more money later.’”

A mental health and substance use disorder agency for adults, Lifeline for ME is expanding its services to include a recovery house for clients recovering from substance abuse.

“The mission of Lifeline for ME is to bring recovery and reentry centers and housing to rural Maine, which will allow individuals on all paths to recovery affected by addiction, mental illness, poverty and incarceration to recreate their lives with dignity, actively and meaningfully participate in their communities, and have opportunities for stability and improved quality of their lives,” according to its website.

Summit House is accepting applicants for the three-bedroom ranch. They must fill out a referral form at lifelineforme.org/recovery, or at the office at 76 Main St. in Livermore Falls. Applicants must undergo a phone interview and preliminary assessment.

“At this time, we’re not able to take anyone that has any significant recent violent crimes, or anyone who was on the sex offender registry,” Ricci said. “They must be sober (and) they have to have completed detox.

“We can’t have someone come in who hasn’t already entered recovery, or someone who is currently actively detoxing, because we’re not a medical facility,” she said. “This is … not a treatment facility.”

Ricci said the recovery house is a step up from a traditional halfway house. “There are weekly house meetings,” she said. “There are requirements to either attend treatment or meetings or both, depending on what stage they’re in.”

Residents are expected to find gainful employment or attend school while living in the house. They will also be responsible for maintaining each other’s sobriety.

“It’s a peer model,” she added. “So, they hold each other accountable to their sobriety in that way.”

Planning for the recovery house began in September 2021 and the lease was signed in December 2022.

Ricci reached out through Facebook to gather any additional supplies needed to have the house ready for residency.

She has an open position for a house manager but anticipates promoting one from within the program.

“Hopefully what we see happen is we’ll see somebody come in and do really well,” she explained, and become that leadership peer position and be the house manager.

“That’s a person that’s in longer term recovery,” she added.

With one house established, Ricci hopes funding for the future through programs such as the American Rescue Plan Act to be easier because the recovery house was primarily funded through Lifeline for ME and her.

Ricci’s next project will be opening a recovery house for women, as well as expanding the program further into the rest of Franklin County and even Oxford County.

“Oxford County also does not have any recovery residences currently,” she said. “We may explore the idea of something in the Oxford County area, but we’re going to focus on Franklin for right now.”

For more information about the recovery house or Lifeline for ME in general, call 207-320-3305 or visit lifelineforme.org or their Facebook pages, facebook.com/LifelineforME or facebook.com/LifelineforMERecovery.

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