How Does Shalom House Work?

About the Program

Our focus is on bringing restoration to the lives of men, women and families in our community. We offer a holistic rehabilitation program while ensuring that our residents function actively within the community. Our program is practical and hands on.

Empowering Transformation Through Choices

We offer our services to anyone with a life-controlling issue, whether it be an addiction to substances such as drugs and alcohol or people with anxiety, fear or emotional trauma. At Shalom House our residents always come first in the service we provide, we do whatever we can to provide a safe place for them to do what they need to do.

Shalom House is a working rehabilitation centre.

All residents agree to work Monday to Friday for the duration of their stay. The type of work they do at Shalom varies greatly from plumbing, gardening, painting, welding, tree lopping, carpentry, landscaping and tiling for the men to our recently opened Cafe and bags of rags business for our women. At Shalom House residents learn to apply life-changing skills in their day to day interactions and activities. Not only do we teach our residents various trade skills that are listed above, but also decision-making skills, problem-solving, communication and anger management.

You are where you are because of your choices, no one can change you except you.

We all face circumstances that we did or did not create and we all must choose how we will respond. Therefore, you are where you are because of your choices. To help identify what those choices are and how you can change, at Shalom House we provide a safe place for you to do what you need to do in your personal rehabilitation journey with our guidance and support 100% of the way.

If a person, however, believes that a lie is true, then that lie becomes their truth.

Often the lie people believe can be one of the root causes for the person’s problems. Lies people believe about themselves can come from broken relationships, family breakdown, trauma or addiction, just to name a few. We work with residents in identifying the issues or root causes that lead them down the road to addiction. Once they are identified, we apply the skills to deal with the issues uncovered. These skills include communication, dealing with conflict, saying ‘no’ to temptation, trust, honesty, patience, humility and faith.

Cost of the Program

Payment Inquiry

Are you presently receiving Centrelink payments?

If Yes, an advance payment of 2 weeks is required: $800 ($100 for medical appointments).
If No, kindly respond to the following query:

Identification Verification

Do you possess 100 points of identification?

If Yes, an advance payment of 4 weeks is required: $1500 ($100 for medical appointments).
If No, an advance payment of 8 weeks is required: $2900 ($100 for medical appointments).

Important Notes:

The advance payment is non-refundable and applies to all situations mentioned above.
The program’s weekly cost is $500. Recognizing financial constraints, we acknowledge that individuals on Centrelink may only afford $300 per week, resulting in a $200 weekly subsidy from Shalom House.
As residents transition into employment, we prioritize their financial well-being, assisting them in settling outstanding debts and progressing toward financial stability.
Upon program completion, the entire debt is forgiven, serving as a reward and incentive for completing the program.
If a resident leaves prematurely, any remaining funds in their trust account will be used to settle outstanding amounts owed to Shalom House.
Unsettled amounts are not pursued; they are written off as bad debt.
Re-entry may be contingent on settling previous debts, depending on the circumstances of the exit.
Shalom House does not pursue debts with external creditors or financial organizations.
Our focus is on restoring lives, not creating financial burdens.
Graduates will have paid only $300 per week throughout their program at Shalom House.

The 5 Stages of Shalom House Program

Stage one

The first stage in the Shalom House program goes for approximately three months.

It’s about us getting to know the client and the client getting to know us; it’s about detoxing from any substances or medications that the client might have been on; and it’s also about the client getting used to the environment, its routine, its people, the way the program functions and how we do things.

Many people entering a structured program like Shalom come from a background of addiction to drugs and alcohol or from a lifestyle of isolation from others. The length of time it takes for them to settle in will depend on the individual, the culture and the background they come from. At Shalom House, we do not have one program, we have 140 programs for every one of the unique 140 individual residents.

Stage Two

When the client has been with us for approximately 12 weeks we sit with each individual to map out a plan for their future. No matter what the resident would like to do with their life, we do our best to come alongside them to make it happen. Whether it’s starting a business, going to TAFE, taking up an apprenticeship or completing a trade that was never finished, we believe it is possible.

Beginning paid work depends on what a resident decides they want to do in the future. We endeavour to have our residents started in their chosen field.

After 12 weeks, depending on your progress and attitude we give you the opportunity to start two days a week paid work with an employer who is on the same page as the rehabilitation centre. Being on the same page means going out of their way to provide a safe working environment for our resident, making sure that they don’t team them up with a person who is struggling with addiction or with issues that would rub off but rather someone who will be a positive influence in their life. The income that the resident receives while working is used to help them move forward financially in their life. We begin to facilitate paying out their unpaid fines and debts that they may have accumulated. We also help them get their driver’s licence, buy a car, etc.

We find this gradual progression back into the workforce helps us monitor whether they are putting into practice what we are teaching them in Shalom. If there is a reason for concern we can taper it back to where we feel they need to be. This balance provides us with an opportunity to see if they are maintaining their progress by making the right decisions and the way they behave.

Stage Three

Stage three sees the resident increases the amount of paid work externally and continues to plug in with the residents in the earlier stages. We allow the resident to purchase a mobile phone as well as the freedom to come and go from the Shalom property, with an 8:30 pm curfew.

This gives the resident a sense of freedom and responsibility whilst keeping them accountable to the leadership at Shalom. They grow in their independence whilst having people to fall back on and continue to receive guidance for the issues that arise.

Stage Four

By this stage, the resident has a lot of independence to make choices in their own lives. We want to see the resident working hard and building relationships with their families, friends and the community. They have a 10.30pm curfew and more freedom on the weekends.

We consider mentoring to be a vital part of our program, we want to see all senior residents giving back to the program by encouraging the newer residents and helping to maintain the Shalom culture.

Stage Five

In stage five , the resident can choose to be moved out of the main house and into shared accommodation with other senior residents. This stage is a period during which the resident has full control of their life and is making choices on how to live and what type of life they want to pursue. During this period, we will continue to monitor the resident’s progress and may require random drug testing.

The residents are to demonstrate all of the moral and lifestyle choices that they have learnt whilst in the program to show that they are ready to graduate. How well they can cope with the temptations of everyday life and how they deal with their loved ones will determine if they are ready for the next step.

Graduation

When the resident has demonstrated that they are capable of living free from the program and feels ready to graduate from Shalom they make an application that asks the resident why they feel ready. We will asses each application and speak with the resident to make sure that a support network is present and that they are set up to fully succeed. We take many things into consideration when approving an application to leave our program. What we want to see is that they are putting into practice everything they were taught at Shalom and being a productive member of the society that they have now entered back into. When we graduate a person, we are saying that not only do we support and honour them in what they have achieved but also that we are confident that they will not go back to their old ways.

The resident’s graduation is done in the presence of their peers and family and is a major event in the Shalom family. After graduation, the resident is so well connected in their community and has a network of friends, mentors, counsellors and family that life simply carries on with a sense of achievement and purpose.

fAQs

Read this website and call our team on 0488 661 725. Do not call on behalf of someone else. The person needing the help must be the person to make the call. The person needing help must also read the information on this website, as they will be asked questions to make sure they have read the website.

Each resident is different and may need a certain amount of time to make the change a permanent one. We ask that every resident commits to a minimum of a 12-month stay. This could vary, shorter or longer. We do not believe that effective change can be done in a short time. The question to ask is – how long does it take to restore a person’s life and to make that restoration permanent? You can’t change 20 years of drug abuse in three months.

No, there is no waiting list.

Try again… And again… You must show that you are serious and want to change and be persistent. Make sure you follow up your phone call if you don’t get an answer, with a text message each time. We accept one in every twenty applicants even though we have beds available. We are not interested in filling beds, we are interested in changing lives and we save those beds for those who are serious about wanting to change. If you are not 150% serious about changing your life, we suggest you try somewhere else.

We have a GP and a clinical psychologist who assist us in making decisions on what medications, if any, are necessary. We allow medications that assist in physical issues e.g. heart medication, blood pressure and Ventolin. We also allow anti-psych medications as prescribed by the psychiatrist, however, as we do work alongside the psychiatrist to help reduce or adjust the dosage to the best possible level and medication type; always in the best interests of the resident. Most antidepressants, Benzodiazepines, etc., are used to mask over deeper issues that the individual is unwilling or unable to deal with. We want to see the issues so that they can be dealt with once and for all. People with addictive personalities will often go from an illegal drug to a legal one and the cycle continues through the ups and downs of a drug-addicted life. Our standard procedure is no medications at all, as drug addiction is often the main cause of most mental, emotional and physical issues. Stop the drug, deal with the issues.

Unless it is an extreme case (e.g. 50-year-old alcoholic with severe tremors) it is a case of sweat it out, cold turkey. Every resident we have ever taken into our program has gone through this process and made it out the other side, so can you, under supervision of course.

Absolutely not. We have a strict no smoking policy and an effective method of kicking the habit – cold turkey.

We are here to restore the lives of men, women and families. We work very closely with the families of our residents to restore and rebuild all relationships. We love to see fathers and mothers reunited with their children. We often have to say that for a short period of time there is no contact so that the individual has time to work on themselves before reuniting with family; every case is different. Most of the time it is no longer than a few weeks. Saturday night is Family Night, where families can come and share in the community and have a meal with us. Check out our EVENTS PAGE for more details. We usually ask that non-serious romantic relationships are put on hold or stopped before entering our program. The resident needs to be focused on their recovery. It is a long and hard road to travel and often these relationships can derail a person, but as we said – each case is different.

Tough.

Sorry, no pets.

NO. We do not accept any new resident as part of a bail program or an early release program. Call us the day that you are released and we will attempt to assist you.

No. We need the person needing the help to be the one to make the call. We won’t accept a referral from your doctor or community corrections officer.