We wake up each morning and engage in a wonderful morning meditation thanking our Higher Power for another day of being clean and free. Our daily morning meditations are critical to our re-entry and our continued sobriety. Just as important as morning meditation is our willingness and desire to make an AA/NA meeting at 7:00a.m weekdays. In our past, maybe if we had gone to AA/NA, we wouldn’t have gone to jail, prison, and/or become homeless. But that’s OK too… ! Because sometimes failures can often lead to a better understanding of what it takes to succeed and soar. And it did with us! After our AA/NA meeting is over at 8:10a.m. we proceed to our programs, i.e., Substance Use Disorder Counseling, IOP. OP, Anger Management, Domestic Violence classes Mental Health Counseling, and other stipulated programs that we eagerly look forward to attending. Our programs are easily accessible for us living in Hardin House and Hardin House. The Program provides transportation vans to make certain we are adhering to our mandates, while enjoying life in our Hardin House Residential Recovery Home. Our Counselors are awesome. Some of them have traveled the same road we’re on to freedom and recovery and it is this experience that creates an understanding that their in this process for us! They want us to succeed in life! This is why we believe in Hardin House. The programs that help us re-enter society are critical and are present here. A person’s successful re-entry into society can be viewed through how adequately they are able to meet six basic life needs: livelihood, residence, family, health, criminal justice compliance, and social connections.” Attaining each life need presents unique challenges, many of which are nterconnected. At Hardin House, we are immediately afforded the opportunity to secure Health Insurance through the Department of Social Services. Our parole agents have access to us and we remain in compliance without any challenges of recidivism. Our family and friends are allowed to come and see us, and just hang out for a couple of hours. We enjoy group activities with our housemates during our stay, and often partake in exciting programs and events in the City of Chicago. We engage in Life Skill programs that are designed with our unique qualifications in mind. The programs we are introduced to for job readiness has dozens of employers lined up to interview and hire, sometimes on the spot. All we have to do is be clean from illicit substances. And that we are because we are the residents of HardinHouse.

Hardin House for men is a twelve bed recovery home for men ages 18 and over. All residents of Hardin House for men are parolees. They are “placed” at Hardin House by the Illinois Department of Corrections with whom Hardin House has a contract. The typical length of stay at Hardin House is 60 days (per IDOC). IDOC parole agents along with HH House staff monitor the residents regularly. Residents must follow all rules, curfews and restrictions. Those individuals that do not comply with the program rules are given write-ups or restrictions, which can lead to their discharge from the program. Illicit drug/alcohol use is strictly prohibited. All residents must submit to a weekly urine screen. Drexel Counseling Services, Inc. has two 15-passenger vans that are used to transport all residents (men and women) to Drexel Counseling Services, Inc. to submit to a Substance Abuse Assessment (Mental Health Assessment as indicated) and to also initiate their parole board orders.

Hardin House Men’s program is a large, 2-story, frame single family home on a quiet residential street on the Southside of Chicago. Hardin House does carry professional recovery home insurance. The house is outfitted with safety precautions such as: smoke detectors, hand rails, and there is a carbon monoxide detector on each floor as well as emergency/exit lights. Hardin House is in walking distance of self-help meetings, shopping, and public transportation.