Ellen’s House honored as Community Champion
BUTLER TWP — The Ellen O’Brien Gaiser Center has been serving the Butler County community since 1971 and is known as one of Butler County’s most established treatment programs for alcohol and substance use disorders.
Ellen’s House, which was opened by the Gaiser Center in the summer, was recognized Friday, Nov. 8, with the 21st Community Champion Award from the Butler County Chamber of Commerce during a luncheon in Founders Hall at Butler County Community College.
“The Gaiser Center is the region’s longest-running addiction treatment facility,” said Jordan Grady, Butler County Chamber of Commerce president. “One of the main reasons for the award today is its recent project of Ellen’s House. It is the first state-licensed recovery home exclusively serving women and their children in Butler County.”
According to Gaiser executive director Joe Mahoney, Ellen’s House is a sober living home, which is also known as a three-quarter house, designed to serve women transitioning back to independent living following treatment in a residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.
“On behalf of everyone at the Ellen O’Brien Gaiser Center, it is an honor to accept this award,” Mahoney said as he addressed the crowd. “Two years ago when we started having these internal conversations, we were trepidatious at best about opening up a three-quarter house in the county. We also were trepidatious about opening a recovery house for children. It has not been done before and there was no road map.”
Ellen’s House opened in July, at 606 E. Brady St. in Butler. The center bought the 2,765-square-foot house with four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a kitchen in August 2023.
The house is named in honor of longtime Gaiser executive director Ellen O’Brien Gaiser, and it aims to provide a safe and supportive environment for women in recovery to continue their journey of sobriety with more autonomy.
The house itself was built prior to 1900, but it was well-maintained since its last occupancy and features wood floors, large windows on every side and wallpaper from the 1970s.
Mahoney said the Gaiser Center has received support from Butler County officials and even from the neighbors across the street from Ellen’s House.
Ellen’s House officially accepted residents in September and the Gaiser Center is seeing a steady stream of referrals.
Mahoney said Ellen’s House receives referrals several ways, including from other agencies in the area and even self-referrals.
“This stream of referrals tells us there is a need,” Mahoney said. “We still have plenty of work still to do. I know we will continue to see success in providing programming, reducing the stigma of addiction, saving lives and keeping families together.”
Mahoney said the program currently has seven mothers and their children who live at Ellen’s House, and it has the capacity to host 12 mothers plus their children.
“So far it has been a really positive experience,” Mahoney said. “I feel that they know they will get what they need. They like the clean, supportive and safe environment.”
Day-to-day life for these women and children are very similar to most people, Mahoney said. The residents are able to work at their jobs and go out to interact with the community.
Dr. Thomas Brophy, medical director at the center, said that addiction treatment happens on a continuum basis and Ellen’s House aims to be just another branch of that continuum on the road to recovery.
“There are the highest levels of care with detox programs and then it goes down from there,” Brophy said. “We have our inpatient facility then we have our outpatient facility. The goal of recovery housing is to keep people in a stable, sober living space for as long as possible.”
Brophy said that he believes a full year of treatment is the best route for lasting success, but sometimes that just is not logistical with children in the picture and trying to provide for them, but that is where Ellen’s House comes in.
“If they have 90 days of inpatient treatment followed by 90 days at a halfway house, followed by 90 days at a three-quarters house (Ellen’s House) then you are getting closer to that one year of being in a stable, recovery environment,” Brophy said.
With Ellen’s House in full swing, Mahoney said there is still work to be done at the home, which includes an attic renovation project with funding help from the Butler AM Rotary Club, along with other cosmetic changes such as a renovating the outdoor spaces.
At the end of the event, Mahoney put an emphasis on what the Gaiser Center means to the region, and simplified what it stands for.
“We have an official mission statement and I always say that is just a lot of words to say one thing,” Mahoney said. “We save lives at the Gaiser Center, and this is another step to us saving lives.”
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