The Women’s Home Expands Houston Recovery Services With Passages Intensive Outpatient Program
For women seeking help for substance use or a co-occurring mental health condition, one of the hardest questions can be a practical one: How can someone commit to treatment without stepping away from the rest of her life?
The Women’s Home is working to provide another answer for women across Greater Houston.
The longtime Houston nonprofit is expanding access to behavioral healthcare through its Passages Intensive Outpatient Program, a 12-week treatment program that allows participants to continue living at home while receiving structured substance use and mental health services. Unlike residential treatment, the outpatient model can allow women to remain employed, stay in school and continue caring for children or other family members during recovery.
The expansion comes as nonprofit organizations nationwide continue navigating financial pressures and service reductions, making the availability of accessible behavioral health and substance use treatment particularly important for families who may already face transportation, employment, childcare or financial barriers.
“The need for accessible, comprehensive substance use treatment has never been greater,” The Women’s Home CEO Anna Coffey said. “Our Intensive Outpatient Program removes many of the barriers that prevent women from seeking help by providing flexible, evidence-based care that supports recovery while allowing them to continue living their lives. We are committed to meeting women where they are and equipping them with the tools, resources and support they need to build lasting stability.”
A Recovery Program Designed Around Everyday Life
Participants in the Passages Intensive Outpatient Program attend group therapy three days a week for three-hour sessions over 12 weeks. They also receive individual counseling, case management and family services. The Women’s Home offers services both in person and virtually, broadening access for eligible women throughout the Greater Houston area.
The program serves women who live in Greater Houston, currently have a substance use disorder or co-occurring mental health disorder, and are willing and able to participate fully in intensive outpatient treatment.
Its clinical framework is built on the nationally recognized 12-week Matrix Model and incorporates cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy skills, relapse prevention, family psychoeducation and peer recovery support.
But the treatment does not stop when a counseling session ends.
Participants can also receive help connecting with psychiatric care and healthcare providers, transportation assistance, food pantry resources, vocational training and employment services. Certified peer specialists provide one-on-one mentoring, lead support groups, accompany clients to medical appointments and help participants connect with recovery communities such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and SMART Recovery.
That combination of clinical care and practical assistance reflects an idea that has shaped The Women’s Home for decades: lasting stability often depends on addressing more than a single diagnosis or immediate crisis.
The Women’s Home Has Served Houston Women Since 1957
Founded in 1957, The Women’s Home has spent nearly seven decades helping women and families in the Houston area rebuild stability following homelessness, mental health challenges, substance use disorders and financial hardship. Today, its continuum of care includes behavioral health treatment, supportive housing and community-based services designed to address both immediate needs and longer-term independence.
The organization’s mission is to build communities that strengthen women and support families as they reclaim their stability.
Its approach is intentionally broader than treating addiction or mental illness in isolation. The Women’s Home developed its WholeLife® Model, which addresses six areas of wellness: emotional and mental, financial, physical, social, spiritual and vocational. The model is designed around the understanding that employment, housing, relationships, physical health and financial security can all play a role in a person’s ability to sustain recovery.
That approach earned national recognition in 2022, when The Women’s Home was selected as one of 10 winners of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s first behavioral health Recovery Innovation Challenge.
The organization describes its treatment as trauma-informed, strength-based, gender-specific and client-centered. Its programs are designed to recognize how trauma and life experiences may affect women differently while developing individualized plans around each client’s circumstances and strengths.
From Treatment to Housing, Employment and Family Stability
For Houston-area residents familiar with The Women’s Home primarily through its residential recovery services, the organization now reaches considerably further into the community.
Its residential treatment and transitional housing program provides behavioral health treatment and wraparound support for women experiencing homelessness related to addiction and mental illness. The program can serve as many as 50 women at one time and may provide clinical, vocational and support services for up to 18 months, according to the organization’s audited financial statements.
The Women’s Home also operates two permanent supportive housing communities in Houston’s Spring Branch area: Jane Cizik Garden Place and Adele and Ber Pieper Family Place. Together, the communities provide 171 units of affordable housing along with case management and other support services for residents.
Nearby, the Mabee WholeLife® Service Center serves as the hub for the WholeLife Collaborative, a coalition that brings multiple organizations together to provide coordinated assistance to families in Spring Branch East. Services include primary and behavioral healthcare, youth programs, adult education, workforce development, physical wellness and basic-needs assistance.
The organization also operates The Cottage Shop on Westheimer Road, its longtime resale shop in the Montrose area. The Women’s Home lists its principal Houston-area locations as Jane Cizik Garden Place at 1839 Jacquelyn Drive, the Mabee WholeLife Service Center at 1905 Jacquelyn Drive, Adele and Ber Pieper Family Place at 7625 Hammerly Boulevard and The Cottage Shop at 811 Westheimer Road, which sells gently used items with proceeds benefiting The Women's Home.
Thousands of Houston-Area Residents Reached Through a Growing Continuum of Care
The scale of that work became clearer in the organization’s 2025 results.
The Women’s Home reported that its Residential Treatment Program served 158 unduplicated women experiencing homelessness connected to mental health and substance use disorders, including 98 women who received residential behavioral treatment and wraparound services.
Another 68 women received care through the newer Passages Intensive Outpatient Program, while 77 former clients received support through the organization’s Recovery for Life AfterCare Program.
Its two permanent supportive housing communities helped stabilize the lives of 379 low-income tenants in 2025. Residents could receive assistance applying for programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, along with referrals for affordable physical and mental healthcare, emergency assistance, transportation and food pantry services.
The reach extends beyond women living in those housing communities. The Women’s Home and its WholeLife Collaborative partners collectively served more than 5,000 people through the Mabee WholeLife Service Center in 2025, including more than 4,000 people who received low-cost primary healthcare and 539 who participated in behavioral health services such as counseling, case management and peer support.
For families in Spring Branch and across Greater Houston, that means The Women’s Home increasingly functions not as one treatment facility, but as part of a larger network connecting behavioral healthcare, housing, employment assistance and family support.
Passages for Women Mission Continues Through Houston Program
The Passages Intensive Outpatient Program was made possible through a transformational grant from Passages for Women, Inc., which closed in 2022.
The grant gave the organization an opportunity to carry forward Passages for Women’s mission of supporting women in recovery while placing those services within The Women’s Home’s broader continuum of behavioral healthcare, supportive housing and economic-stability programs.
That connection is especially significant because recovery can unfold differently for every person. Some women need residential treatment and a place to rebuild their lives away from the circumstances that contributed to instability. Others may be ready for intensive treatment but have jobs, school schedules, children or other obligations that make living at a treatment facility impractical.
The Passages program is intended to help fill that space between traditional outpatient counseling and residential care.
What Women Should Know About Eligibility
The Passages Intensive Outpatient Program is offered through The Women’s Home’s Montrose and Spring Branch locations, with virtual services helping extend its reach throughout Greater Houston.
To be eligible, participants must live in the Greater Houston area, currently have a substance use disorder or co-occurring mental health disorder, and be willing and able to participate fully in intensive outpatient treatment.
Women interested in learning more about the program or determining eligibility can visit the Intensive Outpatient Program section of The Women’s Home website or call 713-521-3150.
For an organization that began serving Houston women in 1957, the new outpatient option represents another evolution in how those services reach the community. Instead of asking every woman to fit recovery into the same treatment model, the Passages program is built around a different premise: meaningful care can meet women where they are while helping them move toward where they want to be.
Stay tuned to My Neighborhood News for more updates on Houston-area nonprofit programs, behavioral health resources and community services available to local families.
Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region.
