About Mark D. Houston

Mark D. Houston was more than just a leader and innovator in the field of chemical dependency, he was also someone who had first-hand experience and knew what it's like to struggle with sobriety. An alcoholic for many years of his life, it was only through his personal struggles with drug and alcohol addiction that Mark was able to uncover the realization that permanent sobriety was not only attainable; it could be life-changing.

Feeling compelled to share his journey to sobriety with others eventually led Mark to open up the Mark Houston Recovery Center (for Men) only to be followed by the opening of The Mark Houston Recovery Center for Women. With 19 years of experience working in the field of chemical dependency, Mark's approach to helping others achieve a life of permanent sobriety, inner peace, and abundance stemmed from his experience as well as his belief that there is a Way of Life as well a set of spiritual disciplines and practices that we can learn, assimilate and begin to practice. It is these spiritual disciplines and practices that will revolutionize our lives and help us to become sane, content and productive citizens. Call the Mark Houston Recovery Center for men at 866.877.6080 or contact The MHR Center for Women at 877.383.4426 for more information about gender specific drug and alcohol recovery.

Two Gender-Specific Programs; One Long Continuum of Care

Over the past couple of decades, research has proven that staying clean and sober is much more likely when a recovering drug or alcohol addict enters into a gender specific program. It has been the experience of the staff at the MHR men and women's programs that male and female alcoholics/addicts have different needs, issues, and problems to deal with as they being the life long process of drug and alcohol recovery.

There are countless benefits to gender specific programs which address gender specific issues, problems and recovery questions. Male and female alcoholics/addicts need every chance they can get to recover from this disease; and gender specific programs with same sex staff provides a conducive environment for this type of recovery. Gender specific recovery programs allow for much more authentic healing work to take place when compared to a co-ed facility.

Mark Houston opened his first gender specific facility in the way of the Mark Houston Recovery (for men) to help recovering male drug and alcohol addicts reclaim their lives from drug and alcohol addiction. After experiencing a high rate of success with the male residents and an all male staff, The Mark Houston Recovery Center for Women was opened to help recovering female drug and alcohol addicts reclaim their lives. This has been achieved by utilizing the same concepts and programming that has been so successful with the men, combining a long continuum of care with same sex staff and watching the outcomes of that recovery model far exceed industry standards. Call the Mark Houston Recovery Center for men at 866.877.6080 or contact The MHR Center for Women at 877.383.4426 for more information about gender specific drug and alcohol recovery.

Men and Women are Different

Because research findings show that men and women recover from drug addiction and alcohol addiction differently, maintaining separate, gender-specific drug and alcohol recovery facilities for women and men makes sense, so that equal attention can be given to each. At many drug and alcohol recovery centers, the issue of gender is often overlooked as a sort of misnomer with the majority of facilities treating the 'majority' versus the individual.

Gender specific drug and alcohol rehab is an invaluable tool for providing individuals of the same gender an opportunity to bond and help each other heal more quickly. Each of Mark's drug and alcohol rehab centers has either all-male staff or all-female staff who have first-hand experience with drug and alcohol abuse and are living reminders that permanent sobriety is possible. Additionally, having gender-specific staff allows residents to feel more comfortable expressing themselves, thus encouraging a more full and enriching recovery. Having a gender specific facility also affords the drug and alcohol recovery center to focus its daily activities around things that may appeal to one gender and not the other.

A No-Nonsense Approach to Drug and Alcohol Recovery

While many drug and alcohol addicts start off in a residential in-patient "treatment" facility, often times, due to a variety of reasons (such as enabling by family members, to lack of willingness), relapse will follow upon discharge. The MHR centers for men and women take a very different approach to the process of recovery from addiction to alcohol and drugs. This process starts with gender specific programs that utilize same sex staff in order to provide an environment of safety, security as well as the capacity and ability to begin the course of action to get sober and stay sober. This is coupled with our relationship with families and coaching them on the necessity of ending all enabling behaviors. NO ENABLING NO ADDICTION.

Without this invaluable tool of leverage, many male and female alcoholic/addicts will not take the course of action necessary to bring about permanent sobriety. MHR has chosen to offer a recovery curriculum and not a treatment curriculum. Please see our daily schedule to see the difference. Alcoholism and Drug addiction are life-long diseases and there is no such thing as a short term cure. Rather, it takes a long continuum of care over a significant period of time to bring about the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual changes necessary to stay sober one day at a time over the rest of our lives. Whether you have gone to drug and alcohol rehab or treatment before, or whether this is your first time; give our recovery center approach an opportunity to get you on the path to permanent sobriety and a life of abundance.

At both the Mark Houston Recovery Center for men as well as The MHR Center for Women, staff members regard drug and alcohol addiction as a chronic and progressive disease which means that it will only become progressively worse if left untreated. So take action today; tomorrow never comes to the alcoholic/addict. This is why Mark Houston came up with a long-term continuum of care in order to instill in his residents that their drug or alcohol recovery process is something that is ongoing and that he or she will need to be held accountable for on a daily basis. The option of 30/60/90 days (or longer lengths of stay), transitional sober living homes as well as a one year monitoring program, all increase the recovery rate. This is because the MHR Recovery Model takes into consideration that a course of action on a daily basis (one which is associated with recovery based decision making) increases the chances of permanent sobriety.

Being Accountable for Your Sobriety

By teaching residents the importance of discipline in their daily lives, Mark Houston is helping to instill a sense of responsibility and accountability for his residents to consider when thinking about drug and alcohol recovery and what it entails. Keeping with the idea of accountability, one of the things that both Mark Houston Recovery for Men as well as The MHR Center for Women involve their residents in is a one year monitoring program. If residents stick to their individual plans for a long term continuum of care, then this greatly increases the outcome that he or she will stay sober. The program is purposely intended to test residents on the skills that they have acquired during their stay at either of Mark Houston's drug and alcohol rehab centers as well as how much residents understand and appreciate what it means to be accountable for their actions. Call the Mark Houston Recovery Center for men at 866.877.6080 or contact The MHR Center for Women at 877.383.4426 for more information about gender specific drug and alcohol recovery.