At Cledy’s House of Hope in Rock Falls, women in recovery are building new lives through structure, community and support.

For Jacinda Garza, who has been at the facility for only a few months, the experience has been life-changing. She calls it a “fresh start to really live.”

Garza’s days are structured and purposeful, filled with reading, listening to sermons and attending support meetings. She also shares meals and spends time with other residents in the community kitchen, where they whip up food, friendship, and a renewed sense of purpose and self-worth.

“I actually lead the meeting on Saturday, which to me is a huge responsibility to be able to gain people’s trust back, to change what my reputation was and to show that recovery is positive,” Garza said. “We have weekly dinners where we all get together, laugh and smile, and just enjoy being alive. Before this, we were just existing. Now there’s purpose, there’s meaning, there’s goals, there’s a lot to look forward to. I feel really good about myself, and I feel really good about this home.”

[ Rock Falls sober-living facility becomes reality ]

Cledy’s House, which opened in May, is a 42-bed sober-living facility for women, offering 15 fully furnished studio-style units shared by two residents and five single-bedroom units. The facility also includes a communal kitchen, a laundry room and a gathering space, with a transition unit where women live upon arrival and until a room assignment is made. It is run by the Sauk Valley Voices of Recovery.

SVVOR still is completing a few rooms, but with only eight residents so far, the facility has room to accept more.

“When the women come in, we put them in room 18 to get them situated for a few days, feel out their personality, and then we pair them up with another woman,” Chief Operating Officer and peer mentor Lauren Metzler said. “As they progress through our four-level recovery program, they’re able to upgrade to a one-bedroom once they reach level three.”

The facility’s program is designed to give women more freedom and responsibility as they move forward in recovery.

Every resident begins at level one, where structure is strict, with early curfews, no overnight stays outside the facility and daily reflections to help establish accountability. As residents demonstrate consistency, they can advance through levels two and three, earning privileges such as later curfews, overnight passes and fewer required support meetings. By level four, residents earn the most independence while still taking part in drug testing, meetings and regular check-ins with staff.

Each step is meant to build confidence and prepare residents for long-term stability. Level advancement is determined by a resident’s assigned recovery coach and is contingent upon consistently meeting program requirements. Failure to comply could result in leveling down, written warnings and possible removal from the program.

Although Sara Ivy has been a resident at the facility for only a few weeks, she already has found a job and is making progress. She said that her life was drastically different before becoming an addict.

“I used to own my house. I drove a Mercedes. I was a call center manager at a bank, making almost six figures a year,” Ivy said. “And I threw it all away because of my addiction.”

She said one of the hardest parts of recovery is helping others understand that addiction is not simply a matter of willpower.

“A lot of my family, although they love and support me, they just don’t get it, like, ‘Why can’t you just stop? Why can’t you just not do it?’” Ivy said. “And that’s the part I wish that people understood more. ... Our brains are literally wired different.”

SVVOR Executive Director Gerald Lott said the main goal of Cledy’s House is to give women a stable, supportive and safe community experience to reestablish their lives.

“A lot of times people will go away to a treatment program, and when they come back, they go right back into the problem that they came from,” Lott said. “This home allows them to transition back into their lives.”

He said that the key to the program, and transitioning to sober living, is a supportive community.

“Right across the hall, you’ve got your house leader who has a sobriety mission of their own, and down the hall, your friend who you just made, who goes to meetings with you,” Lott said. “We have meetings that come to the building. We have art class and other opportunities for people to socialize in healthy ways and learn how to live in this new lifestyle that they’ve chosen.”

Cledy’s House was made possible thanks to a donation earlier this year from Highlight Healthcare, which gave two buildings at 430 Martin Road to SVVOR. Metzler said the organization still is determining what to do with the other building, which is located on the same parcel.

“We’re still trying to figure that out because we don’t know which direction to go,” Metzler said. “Gerald has talked about making it a treatment or detox center. I’ve brought up possibly making it a homeless shelter or something in that sense. But right now, I think we’re going to continue to clean it out and get it to where people can come in, and it could be like a community room.”

[ Women’s sober living house coming to Rock Falls; Sauk Valley Voices of Recovery accepting applications ]

Cledy’s House is named after Metzler’s mother, Cledy Rumley, who died of a fentanyl overdose in August 2024 and had devoted her life to helping others in recovery.

“She was born and raised in the community and loved so much,” Metzler said of her mother. “This is very important to me to give back to women, and to be able to provide this safe space for them and give them the opportunities that my mom didn’t have locally.”

SVVOR is a nonprofit recovery community organization dedicated to strengthening the recovery community through resources and advocacy for everyone affected by alcoholism and substance use disorder. The organization is taking applications for Cledy’s House through its website, svvor.org.

Applicants are required to pay a $50 fee and will go through a background check and additional review. Residents cannot have any Class 3 violent felonies or sexual offenses on their record.

They also must come from a treatment program or be recommended by a counselor or similar professional. After that, the organization conducts an interview before approving a move-in.

Once accepted, Cledy’s House residents receive a customized one-year recovery plan, weekly peer recovery coaching with certified recovery specialists and biweekly assessments to monitor their progress.

Residency at Cledy’s House costs about $150 per week, which includes all utilities, internet and garbage-removal services, with residents supplying their own groceries.

For more information, call SVVOR at 779-707-0151.