Frequently Asked Questions

The Philosophy of Meta House

While recovery is never easy, it is possible. At Meta House, you will experience a client-centered approach. What that means is we won’t lecture you on what your goals should be. We will collaborate with you to determine what you want to accomplish and, together, we will build a plan to help you accomplish those goals. That plan will include individual therapy and a mix of group therapies.

We provide guidelines designed to help you and to help the whole program function well.

Finally, expect that this will be hard work—you may find you will experience emotions you’ve held at bay for a long time. But you won’t be alone in this. We’ve helped many thousands of women over the last 60+ years. We hope to be able to help you, too.

Meta House has been offering treatment specifically designed for women since 1963. In our 60+ years of helping women get well, our outcomes have consistently outpaced national averages in helping women recover. In most years, between 70% and 80% of our clients who have completed our program have been able to achieve and maintain their sobriety with our help. While we cannot promise success for you, we can promise we’ll be doing everything we can to help you become part of that very successful group of alumni.

Although every year we see clients who succeed with us their first time in treatment, we also know clients who have been to treatment 2 or 4 or 10 times before they are able to get well. We do think there are some things about our program which may be different than other treatment programs you may have experienced.

First, we are a women-only program. Both research and our own 60+ years of experience have shown us how important this can be for women early in recovery.

Second, unlike some programs, we don’t pretend that one size fits all. We can’t build a treatment plan until we meet you and know what your goals are. Once we’ve learned what you want to accomplish, we’ll work with you to build a plan that meets your needs.

Meta House does not have a single “28-day” or “30-day” program that it offers clients. Instead, we’ll be building an individualized program designed to meet your own recovery goals. The average length of stay for our residential treatment program is around 55 days, but most clients who succeed in maintaining long-term recovery ultimately spend a year or more engaged in some form of treatment. No two people are identical though, and we’ll work with you to find the right length of stay that works for you.

No. We know the 12 steps can be helpful for many in their recovery, but we also know it doesn’t work for everyone. We’ll be working with you to build a treatment plan and a long-term plan that works best for you.

Residential treatment means that you live with us for a time period while receiving your treatment onsite. Our experience is that residential treatment can be a vital part of the recovery process for women who have not been able to achieve their goals in an outpatient program or women whose lives feel so out of control that they want the safety and support of residential program.

Our program is headed by a medical director who is a licensed psychiatrist. Our team is comprised of masters-level therapists who have credentialing in their field, often a Licensed Professional Counselor (“LPC”), a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (“LCSW”), and/or a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor (“CSAC”). Our therapists are dually credentialled to treat substance use and mental health conditions. Finally, we always have other caring staff on-site. In addition to state-required training, these staff receive on-going training in issues like trauma, women’s health and helping women recover.

We know for most clients, residential treatment is a necessary first step to a healthy recovery, but many clients benefit from continued treatment when they are ready to leave residential. We’ll work with you, your family (if appropriate), and our team of licensed professionals in the Meta House Outpatient Treatment Program to help make the transition as seamless as possible.

Our outpatient treatment program is set up similarly to the residential program in that it offers strength-based, trauma-informed substance use treatment for women in addition to a wide array of comprehensive supportive services including vocational and educational training, parenting classes and case management.

Your life at Meta House

Yes. Warm, supportive staff members are on-site in Meta House’s residential treatment program at all times. The outpatient program is staffed during normal business hours.

Meta House is a warm, family-friendly, non-hospital program. In our residential program, we can accommodate up to 35 women and 15 children at a time between the two houses that comprise our residential program. Our outpatient program capacity varies. Our recovery housing program offers 27 units for women in early recovery as well as their children.

Riverwest is an eclectic neighborhood just north of Downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The neighborhood has retained the beautiful trees of an old neighborhood and is filled with lovely small businesses and a diverse mix of community-minded professionals, students, families and single residents. You can see our campus on Google Maps here and see pictures of our building on this website.

We know that a strong support system is an enormous benefit to women who want to stay healthy for the long-term. Because of this, we encourage clients to consider authorizing us to speak with the most important people in their lives about their recovery. Ultimately, this is each client’s decision to make, and we will communicate or not consistent with her wishes.

Yes. We are licensed to welcome up to 15 children under 12 years old at a time in our residential program and under 18 years old in our family housing program. We have a Child & Family team that are trained in treating children alongside their mothers.

Passes are offered for essential medical appointments and skill-building activities. Skill building passes may be discussed during discharge planning.

On a typical weekday, you’ll experience a combination of individual therapy, group therapies, and other activities designed to meet your individualized needs. We ask clients to dine together and to wake and retire at set times during the week. The weekends provide a little more downtime, but still in our safe structure.

You as our client are the center of the team. Your clinical team may include a therapist, members of our child and family team, a case manager (in outpatient and housing), a peer support specialist (residential program only), and a vocation and education specialist (in outpatient and housing). External supports may also be wrapped into your team, including both informal and formal supports.

Meta House is uniquely qualified to treat a woman’s minor children who live with their mother in our residential and housing programs. We want to work with the families of our clients (however she defines family) because we know that families can be very important to the recovery process. We will provide some support to all families (unless our client directs otherwise) including education about the disease of addiction. The Celebrating Families! program is available for women and their families who elect to participate.

Everyone can benefit from a healthy environment with a relatively strong and consistent structure. But we’re not setting guidelines just to set them – our goal is your long-term recovery, and these guidelines support your safety and help foster the development of healthy habits.

In the residential program, clients will share a bedroom with another woman. In the case that a woman’s child(ren) are coming with her to treatment, the family will share a bedroom. In our housing program, single women will share a two-bedroom apartment with another woman. Women with accompanying children will be assigned their own unit.

We see healthy nutrition and eating habits as integral to the recovery process. All of the food we provide at Meta House is designed to help you build or maintain a healthy lifestyle. While we know an occasional treat works in a balanced diet, most of what you’ll enjoy at Meta House will be non-processed, healthy options. We’d be happy to work with you to accommodate any dietary restrictions.

Meta House is a nicotine-free program, so no smoking, vaping, or use of nicotine products is permitted on our campus. We encourage our clients to treat nicotine like any addictive substance and to build into a treatment plan a goal of eliminating (or at least reducing) use.

We limit caffeine, highly-processed, and sugar in our programs.

Currently, physical exercise is not built into the program schedule, but opportunities to exercise will be available. Women enrolled in the residential program have access to a treadmill.

Please plan to bring with you no more than two weeks of clothing (we have laundry facilities) and any personal toiletries or care items that are important. Please do not bring with you a large amount of cash, credit cards, or other valuable items.

In residential, you’ll have limited access to your cell phone for your first few weeks in treatment. In outpatient. cell phones should be silenced or on ‘do not disturb’ during services.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept pets at Meta House.

Am I eligible for Meta House?

Meta House treats women diagnosed with substance use disorder and who want to get well. You must be at least 18 and ambulatory for this program. Meta House is not a medical-detox facility, so depending on your medical needs, you may need to go to a detox facility prior to admission. If you call us, we can help you determine if that’s necessary in your case. Meta House cannot serve sex offenders.

Many (though not all) women who are struggling with their drug or alcohol use have survived difficult life experiences. Many of the clients we’ve worked with have survived childhood sexual or physical abuse, similarly violent events as adults, or have witnessed violence against others. For some women, experiencing events like these can contribute to their substance use. We have decades of experience building a trauma-informed program to help you heal.

Yes. The team at Meta House IS experienced at working through how both your substance use and any mental health concerns are impacting each other and how to help you build a treatment plan that addresses all of your needs. Meta House is not an inpatient mental health facility, so individuals who are a danger to themselves or others or individuals who are experiencing mental health symptoms that interfere with their ability to function or care for themselves would benefit from stabilization in an inpatient psychiatric program before accessing the residential level of care.

At Meta House, we believe that medication-assisted recovery can play a vital role in helping some clients get well. While every client is different, the appropriate use of methadone, Suboxone, Subutex, Vivitrol, or many other drugs will never prevent a client from receiving treatment at Meta House. Our Physician’s Assistant will do a medication evaluation with you and work with your provider to ensure you are on a therapeutic level.

Yes. Under the supervision of our staff, we’ll encourage you to take any approved medications. As part of that approval process, our Physician’s Assistant will conduct a review of any prescription medications you are taking to make sure we’ve got a good plan for you and your needs.

Yes – in fact, pregnant women are given priority admission in all programs at Meta House. In our decades of working with expectant moms, we’ve seen how important treatment can be to helping you deliver a healthy baby and take the right steps for your own health. Please contact us to talk about your circumstances—if we can meet your needs, we’ll be so glad to welcome you.

If you’re interested in our residential program, you’ll need to temporarily step away from work or school to focus on treatment. If you plan to participate in our outpatient program or live in our recovery housing program, you can continue working or attending school.

Meta House is not a faith-based program, but we value and respect the belief systems of all that we serve. We know that spirituality or organized religion can be a vital part of recovery for some women, and for these women we’ll work collaboratively with you to incorporate those elements into your treatment plan. For women who do not consider religion, faith, or spirituality as important to them, we will likewise honor and respect your beliefs and build your treatment plan with you accordingly.

Getting Started at Meta House

Most admissions for our residential program are scheduled Tuesday-Thursday and before 11:00 a.m. We find this tends to lead to the smoothest experience for new clients and for us. But we also know that special circumstances come up, and we will do our best to meet your needs. In our outpatient program, intakes can be scheduled Monday through Friday. Finally, how soon we can admit you also depends on how many clients are currently with us. Please call and we’ll be able to let you know the first possible admission appointment.

Before your first day in Meta House’s residential program, you’ll talk with a member of our staff so we can get a brief history of your use and help you determine whether you would benefit from a medical detox before your admission at Meta House. We’ll ask you to visit a physician for a physical that confirms you are free of tuberculosis (“TB”) or other communicable diseases. Finally, we’ll need to verify insurance or discuss payment options. Please contact us at (414) 962-1200 for a copy of our admission agreement.

Paying for treatment at Meta House

Most of the clients accessing residential treatment will qualify for public funding that does not require any out-of-pocket cost for you. Meta House accepts Medicaid and some other insurances and contracts with several Wisconsin county and tribal agencies so women in those communities can access care at Meta House. For clients whose insurance is not in-network, we have a sliding-scale structure that we hope will work for many families. Please call us at (414) 962-1200 for more information.

Many of our clients in our outpatient program qualify for Medicaid, which we gladly accept. We likewise are happy to work with other insurers. If you don’t currently have insurance, please call—we’d love to help you get enrolled if we can. Finally, if you’re responsible for any co-pays, we’ll be up front about that and talk through how to make that work for you.