Alpha House, Inc

Alpha House supports people with a substance use disorder to experience emotional, spiritual and physical well-being through a cognitive behavioral approach provided in a therapeutic community environment.

Alpha House, Inc. has provided residential, community focused treatment in the heart of Pittsburgh's Shadyside neighborhood to individuals with a substance use disorder since 1971. What began as an idea of caring men and women with a strong desire to help persons struggling with substance use, Alpha House has evolved into two houses with thirty licensed beds for long-term treatment. For nearly fifty years, Alpha House continues to permeate the same care and commitment shared by its founders.

Alpha House is one of the few Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) licensed long-term, highest intensity, residential treatment centers in Pennsylvania. This licensure assists in care retention, allowing staff to work with individuals on their needs for habilitation. Throughout the 6-9 months of treatment, residents are able to address core traumatic events in both group and individual therapy, learn and practice coping skills in a peer-based environment, and develop the cooking, cleaning and other life skills that will help support them in their transition back to independent living. This focus on habilitation has been at the core of Alpha House's work since its inception.

Individuals coming to Alpha House have made the brave choice to improve their lives. We strive to provide that help through a holistic, person-centered approach. At Alpha House, we don't use the word "community" lightly. When people think of a community, they often think of a place of belonging, a place where people know, care for, and support each other. For us, developing a spirit and sense of community is all-important. Our community of staff and residents is the healing agent and the foundation for building life-long recovery. The individual is responsible to the community and the community is responsible to the individual. Involvement and participation in the community stimulates learning and change.

Alpha House provides individualized treatment that nurtures a sound foundation of tools and skills to prevent the recurrence of use, and the repetition of self-defeating thought and behavior. Part of this process is learning to grow and develop new life skills. Recovery is a lifetime process of growth and change. Alpha House believes in, and follows, SAMHSA's working definition of Recovery, that it:

• emerges from hope
• is person-driven
• occurs via many pathways.
• is holistic
• is supported by peers and allies
• is supported through relationship and social networks
• is culturally based and influenced
• is supported by addressing trauma
• involves individual, family, and community strengths and responsibility
• is based on respect

Alpha House does this by welcoming and integrating residents as part of a community, and working toward specific, individualized treatment goals. No matter what an individual's background or concerns are, we see them as a person deserving of help and assistance. As a proud Pittsburgh treatment provider grounded in a rich history of radical accompaniment, Alpha House looks forward to its next chapter; continuing to help individuals with a substance use disorder build new beginnings.

Testimonials

"The drug of choice may be different, but we all have that common thread... We can help one another out..." - Alpha House Resident

"That is something I've packed in my life…fear of people judging me. Confronting that fear has helped...relating effectively with my peers…to help me keep that fresh in my mind of where I came from and where I'm going. It's easy for me to forget. Relating with my peers has helped that….putting myself out there and being comfortable with it…not worrying about people's perception of me." - Alpha House Resident

"Not only have I begin to identify my thinking and self defeating behaviors… I have learned to change that… Any obstacle I face I know I am able to overcome…" - Alpha House Resident