Halfway home

Why we do it

Many homeless people became homeless because they did not receive the necessary help in time. As a rule, people take to drinking when they are already homeless: out of despair and not knowing where to go and who to ask for help. Alcohol addiction is an illness, a condition. We believe that those who are ready to recognise their addiction and work on overcoming it, should be helped.

How it works

Participants of the Halfway Home programme live in a separate room at Nochlezhka’s Shelter. They get help from social workers and lawyers just as any other people living in our Shelter but they also follow the Twelve-Step Programme.

This programme is based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous and includes group and individual sessions with an expert in chemical addiction and therapists, daily meetings with other participants of the programme presided by someone who has already successfully completed the programme and left the Shelter.

10 people are participating in the programme at the same time. They spend 6 months on average at the Shelter. Everyone joins the programme voluntarily and can leave it at any time.

Some of the participants volunteer for the Night Bus and at Heated tents. They talk to homeless people and tell them about their own experience of fighting alcohol addiction, inspiring them to try and change their lives.