"Serenity Inn teaches you to hold yourself accountable," Ellen Blathers, Executive Director
Established in 2001 by a group of Milwaukee central city residents and supporters, Serenity Inns, Inc. helps meet the overwhelming need in Milwaukee for quality transitional living programs for recovering persons.
In May of 2002, a condemned house at 2825 West Brown St was purchased, secured with resources from Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity. Within 18 months, through the partnership with Habitat and the work of volunteers, the property was renovated and refurbished and a core staff was hired. The staff included a program administrator/social services coordinator, an addictions counselor, and two house managers. A working board of directors was formed with a goal of telling the Serenity Inns story and raising needed funds.
After identifying that there are 1,000 homeless males in Milwaukee, and 80% of those homeless males are homeless due to addictions, Serenity Inn made the decision to only focus on male addicts in Milwaukee, as there are a number of exceptional resources for women, including META House.
The organization serves men with a true desire to recover. The conditions for entry into a Serenity Inn program are that the men have no history of sexual assault or diagnosed bipolar disorders. The organization has a zero tolerance policy for relapse, and inspects all individuals with random testing twice per week.
There are three phases within the Serenity Inn program, the Leadership Education Acceptance Program (LEAP); the Transitional Living Program (TLP) and the Independent Living Program (ILP). Within the first phase, the goal is to assist the individual in understanding himself, and his addiction, in learning how to deal with that addiction and in developing a commitment to recovery. Within phase 2, the individual spends 6 months becoming better managers of his financial resources, learning basic life skills and healthy ways to live an independent life in recovery.
The third and final phase is aimed at helping men make healthy and safe living arrangements. This includes furnishing their apartment once they move out. Serenity Inns provides follow-up services to graduates of the program. The organization has established the "Alumni House" which is an option for graduates of the program. The alumni house includes a number of fully furnished apartments for graduates.
There is currently a waiting list for men to join the program. For those who cannot enter the program, an outpatient program was established. The outpatient program helps to assist men in recovery, off-site.
Jason, a counselor at Serenity Inn and the head of the outpatient program, shared his story of addiction. He was a Milwaukee mailman, battling an addiction. His addiction reached the point where he was using while on the job. He sought the help of Serenity Inn and now shares his story and bravery while supporting others.
There were 3,000 overdoses in Milwaukee in 2017, 320 of those were fatal. Those battling addictions are getting younger, the age ranges for those entering Serenity Inn's care is 18 - 40, the previous range was 30 to 55 just 5 years ago. Many drug addictions in young people begin with abuse of painkillers. "A pill costs $90, a bag of heroin is $5," Ellen Blathers shared. She advised that we pay attention to the use of prescription drugs and seek help as soon as possible.
Serenity Inn saves lives by addressing the thinking of addicts and helping those under its care transition into productive and fulfilling futures.