Contributed Photo
Recovery Mansion house manager Mark Manfredi.
In late March, Rick DelValle learned that a resident at the Recovery Mansion in Fair Haven Heights had been exposed to Covid-19 at work. He told him and his roommate Scott S to get tested. Then he moved them to the top floor of the four-story Victorian Gothic building.
With 21 men living in the sober house on Sherland Avenue, “we couldn’t afford to take a chance,” said DelValle.
DelValle and his wife Jess DelValle founded A New Beginning Recovery Houses in 2014 to help with the early stages of addiction recovery.
Currently the DelValles own and operate five sober houses in New Haven. Their next project is Redemption House, which is slated to open on 10 Crescent S.t on July 1. The house, through charitable donations, will provide anyone who has relapsed or is coming out of detox with a safe place to stay until the services they need are in place.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic broke, the DelValles have worked closely with the city to “be proactive” in order to avoid clusters of cases breaking out in their facilities, confirmed Health Director Maritza Bond.
Rick DelValle, a 56-year-old father of two, has been in recovery for drug and alcohol addiction since 2008. This helped inform his response to Scott and his Covid-positive roommate.
“If they ended up losing their jobs, they would not be losing their place to live,” DelValle said. “If you don’t have your recovery, you have nothing.”
While the two men waited for two weeks for their Covid-19 tests to come back, they holed themselves up in the Recovery Mansion’s penthouse suite.
“We had a lot of space, our own bathroom and shower, and everything was delivered to us,” said Scott, who asked that his last name not be used.
Although he did not feel ill and ultimately tested negative, Scott was laid off. Eventually he was rehired.
Virtual Community
A New Beginning co-founder Rick DelValle.
Sixty-five men live in the five New Beginning houses. Each is required to agree to a treatment plan, contribute to the upkeep of the house, regularly attend 12-step meetings, and commit to weekly community service.
Since March 20, the 12-step meetings have gone virtual. The weekly service commitment has been on hold.
Most of the residents have continued to work, many using public transportation to get to their jobs. A New Beginning houses painters, tire shop employees and Amazon warehouse workers, DelValle said.
Since March 20, only one of the 65 residents has tested positive for Covid-19, according to DelValle.
“We knew a lot of those jobs were in so-called high risk areas, but I can’t tell somebody they can’t go out and work, because they have to pay the rent,” DelValle said.
“Those jobs provide structure and accountability. Without those, you have a lot of guys sitting around, and people in recovery sitting around is not good, and probably ends up with them doing the same thing that got them here.”
Add in the isolation of social distancing and the risk of relapse climbs.
“Some of these guys have a lot of grief and shame and guilt. Some of them come in broken. Sometimes someone grabbing them by the shoulder and saying ‘I’ve gotten through this, you can too,’ can make a lot of difference,” he said.
In the face of those challenges, DelValle said, they have been “really really fortunate, but we also got out in front of it right away.”
“We threw the budget out of the window,” said Recovery Mansion house manager Mark Manfredi.
Manfredi helped distribute hand sanitizers, disinfectants, masks and gloves to each house.
“Everyone pitched in,” DelValle said.
DelValle added that the organization designated one resident a house every day to oversee the disinfecting and issued daily reminders to wipe down surfaces and wear masks.
There were weekly calls with the New Haven Health Department, and with agencies like CT Alliances and Recovery Residences, which maintains a forum for exchanging best practices and providing guidance for their members.
By far the most essential protocol, DelValle said, was to create a Zoom account right away.
They met with other recovery houses in the area to trade ideas on how to help residents come to grips with the new reality and prevent them from slipping into old habits. There were daily check-ins with house managers, along with constant contact through texting.
There were also virtual recovery meetings. Though they don’t compare to the energy of the in-person ones, DelValle said, he and his staff instituted a policy requiring residents to attend meetings at least three nights a week.
“Even if you’re just lying in bed with your phone or a laptop, meetings are a place where you’re being accountable to yourself and to the group just by showing up,” he said.
Yale Program in Addiction Medicine Director David Fiellin.
The mandatory nature of the meetings — and the sense of fellowship they afford — may be among the reasons the five recovery houses have seen only one positive case, according to David Fiellin, MD, director of the Yale Program in Addiction Medicine.
“The meetings are about honesty and responsibility,” Fiellin said. “Many experience a level of freedom in being honest and not having to hide their substance use.”
“As they move along in 12-step treatment, individuals often find themselves aware of others rather than themselves, whether it’s making coffee or greeting people at a meeting or sharing their own experience, and that can enhance their own recovery.”
That act of reaching out to another might not be as natural in a Zoom meeting, according to Rebecca Allen, director of recovery support for CT Community for Addiction Recovery.
“When you’re talking to someone face-to-face, you have that eye contact and all the different non-verbal cues and body language that are lost in a virtual world,” she said.
“I Won’t Give Up On Anybody”
Recovery Mansion resident Mike Surowiecki.
Limitations aside, Fiellin said that the social responsibility to one another in the age of coronavirus might already have been in place at Recovery Mansion and the four other houses.
“Recovery houses aren’t regulated and vary widely, but certainly in a best-case scenario, residents can positively influence one another,” he said.
That influence could be in each resident’s effort to keep the house disinfected and sanitized. Or in what happened after DelValle met with Recovery Mansion newbie Mike Surowiecki weeks after Scott S. and his roommate had completed their quarantine.
Surowiecki moved from the Roger Sherman Halfway House to the Recovery Mansion in mid-April. He had been tested for Covid-19 before moving in, as was required. He was awaiting those test results when he mentioned to a few residents that he’d lost his sense of smell. Then someone saw him using the house computer and alerted the house manager.
When DelValle spoke to him about it, Surowiecki initially felt that he “was being singled out,” he said. “But then I thought about it and realized I don’t want anyone else to get it.”
A similar impulse had prompted Scott S. to self-report his exposure to Covid-19.
“It was about protecting the house and the guys living there. It’s also because this house and Rick have helped me turn my life around,” Scott S. said.
“I won’t give up on anybody, whether they call me at 3 in the morning or whether they relapse,” DelValle said. “I’m no different from every other guy in the houses. I want to keep paying it forward.
“That’s why Redemption House is so important. All these people would otherwise be on the streets where, chances are, they’re going to use, and that deadly cycle will begin again. It’s going to help a lot of people not die.”
For more information or to donate to Redemption House, click here or here or call 203 – 909-5707.
I applaud the efforts of Rick Delvalle and Mark Manfredi. Mark is an old friend of mine and it was through him that I had the information to get guys like Mike Surowicki in places that help guys with addiction issues who might not otherwise have a place to go.I know how hard it is to keep everyone safe during these trying times when you live in close quarters as I myself live at the Roger Sherman halfway house and have been exposed to the Covid-19 4 times ,Mike S. Was my next door neighbor. I'm glad that people are seeing the need for places such as Rick's sober houses,because the families of those who have addiction issues must also realize that sometimes coming home isn't the best solution for someone who needs help.
Awesome job guys!!!