LEBANON — Headrest, a Lebanon-based nonprofit that serves residents in crisis or those dealing with substance use disorders, plans to open a 14-bed recovery home for adults recovering from substance abuse disorders in its location at 14 Church St. location.

The recovery home would replace the organization’s low-intensity residential program, which has closed along with its outpatient services program.

Headrest announced in late February that it was terminating the two programs as a result of staffing issues.

The Lebanon Zoning Board Adjustment approved a special exception for the recovery home earlier this month in a 4-1 vote. The approval includes the conditions that there are no zoning violations and Headrest is set to meet the city’s standards, as stated in a memorandum and the board’s motion.

“I think the service that Headrest provides to the community has for decades been valuable,” Zoning Board member Paul McDonough said in a recording of the April 7 meeting. Headrest is “in a position where they have to make this change (...) and I’m very much in favor of it.”

Headrest’s Church Street facility had previously served as a 3.1 Low Intensity Residential Program with 14 beds, including staff available 24-hours a day.

The New Hampshire Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Services terminated Headrest’s contract for the program on March 7.

Headrest Executive Director Judith Caprio and board Chairman Matt McKenney both declined to comment for this story, but in its application to the city, filed on March 10, the organization states that challenges with hiring and retention following the COVID-19 pandemic caused Headrest to lose the capacity to meet all the required elements set forth in the state contract.

The staffing issues also made it “increasingly difficult to receive insurance authorizations for a 3.1 program level of care,” the application said.

However, former employees have said the organization’s difficulties, including the departures of dozens of employees, stem from poor management.

Operating a recovery house rather than a 3.1 Low Intensity Residential Program “is a more sustainable option for the community,” according to the application. “A recovery house does not require a Clinical Director and staff across three shifts.”

During the meeting, Zoning Board member David Newlove, the sole board member to oppose the special exception, said he worried the facility’s staffing may be inadequate.

“If there is less professional staff on board at the house, I’m concerned that we’ll have more issues and more burden on the taxpayer,” he said in the meeting recording.

Voters approved a zoning change in March allowing for recovery houses by special exception in residential districts one, two and three in Lebanon.

Lebanon’s zoning ordinance defines a recovery house as, “a residence that provides a safe, healthy, family-like, substance free living environment that supports individuals in recovery from addiction and is centered on peer support and a connection to services that promote long-term recovery.”

Headrest’s recovery house would be the first to be permitted in Lebanon. 

Certain standards must be met in order to establish and operate a recovery house in Lebanon, including obtaining and maintaining certification by the New Hampshire Partnership for Recovery Residences, or NHPRR. And there must be a 24-hour emergency contact available, as outlined in a city staff memorandum to the board.

“It gives us a little tighter grip on exactly how the recovery houses are going to operate within the community, so we can make sure that they’re being good neighbors, and they’re also treating the folks that require that level of support to continue their sobriety,” Nathan Reichert, the city’s director of planning & development and zoning administrator, said in an interview.

Applications requesting a special exception must include a location map, a letter from NHPRR stating that the certification process has started, and a proposed site plan.

All materials must demonstrate that the recovery house operates harmoniously within the neighborhood and appears like a residential home. The location must be walkable and bikeable, and within a quarter of a mile of a bus stop. No smoking is permitted in the front yard; there must be a designated smoking area, and all garbage must be stored on the side or rear of the residence.

While the closing of Headrest’s residential treatment program is a “loss,” the recovery house “meets another important need, particularly once certified is obtained,” Dr. Luke Archibald, section chief of the Addiction Treatment Program at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, stated in an email interview: “Safe housing is essential to achieving stability from a substance use disorder.”

Reichert added that when recovery houses are successful, “it really helps someone integrate back into the community in a way where they can remain sober … so when you look at the services overall, it’s a tremendous, almost rebirth of someone back into the community.”

Adriana James-Rodil can be reached at ajamesrodil@gmail.com.