Guest House Institute

A second mission of Guest House is the education of Church hierarchy in the realities of chemically based addictions, recovery and sobriety, and the spiritual aspects of these. Toward this end, Guest House Institute and Guest House, Inc. staff visit at least 50 dioceses and religious orders a year, provide an annual conference, numerous workshops and seminars and maintain active websites.

The mission of the Guest House Institute is to promote health and spiritual well-being of Catholics by providing educational services related to alcoholism and other addictions, and by promoting and providing research into alcoholism and other addictions affecting the Catholic Church.

The Guest House Institute 

• Develops training and educational opportunities for Church hierarchy, clergy, religious and laity regarding addiction;
• Works with seminarians, universities and dioceses and religious institutions to facilitate on-going education and training for those who are studying for ministry;
• Offers retreats, seminars, and family seminars for those impacted by addiction;
• Provides confidential consultation to those in leadership and ministry who are dealing with potential or actual addiction concerns;
• Works with those in parish ministry to implement programs that address the needs of parishioners, becoming welcoming communities for those afflicted by addiction;
• Facilitates the education and training of Catholic professionals who are faced with the complications of addiction in their work and ministry;
• Develops and implements affordable continuing education experiences for addiction counselors and ministers to improve their skills and understanding.

Locations

Rochester Treatment Center

Lake Orion Treatment Center, Lake Orion, MI

Guest House currently treats priests, deacons, religious and seminarians in three different facilities located in Minnesota, Michigan, and Mangalore, India.

Priests, deacons, and male religious are cared for at Guest House's center in Rochester, Minnesota (opened in 1969) where the organization enjoys a working relationship with the Mayo Clinic.

In Lake Orion, Michigan, women religious receive services in a new, state-of-the-art center opened in 2007 and designed especially for sisters with ambulatory issues. Between the years of 1994 and 2007, women religious were cared for on the same campus but at the Scripps mansion.

Guest House's annual graduates join nearly 2,300 living alumni worldwide, and are among the more than 7,500 cared for since 1956. Over 2,000 are still serving the Church as pastors, teachers, counselors, and missionaries. Guest House alumni enjoy a life-time recovery rate of at least 75% - which is a much higher percentage rate than their lay counterparts - and remain in ministry for an average of 20 or more years after treatment. Patients come from 165 Dioceses and 120 religious communities throughout the United States and 48 other countries.

As part of its principal mission, each year Guest House admits up to 125 priests, deacons, brothers, sisters and seminarians to either of its two licensed, CARF-accredited treatment centers. There, each client remains for a minimum 90 days of intensive counseling, education, medical and nutritional support, fellowship, recreation and spiritual renewal and growth. In recent years, Guest House has expanded its services to include diagnosis and care of religious with eating and gambling/spending compulsions.

Guest House's programs have expanded from its original concentration on alcoholism and other chemical addictions (such as to prescription drugs), to include care for religious with eating disorders and gambling/spending compulsions. All residents also participate inAlcoholics Anonymous or other appropriate "12-step" programs.

Following their in-patient care, clients are also enrolled in "Continuing Care," a 21-month program centered on three, week-long return visits by the client to the center where they received treatment. In Continuing Care, there is additional counseling, education, fellowship and time for more spiritual renewal.