Sanford House at Cherry Street

Sanford House at Cherry Street is built around the idea that recovery is a process, not a single event. The center offers detox, residential addiction treatment, a Partial Hospitalization Program, an Intensive Outpatient Program, outpatient addiction treatment, sober living, and aftercare — a continuum that allows individuals to move through levels of care without losing the clinical relationships and community they have built.

Located at 540 Cherry St SE in Grand Rapids, the facility is CARF-accredited, a distinction that reflects an external review of quality standards in addiction treatment and residential care. For families researching treatment options, accreditation by CARF signals that the programs here have been measured against recognized benchmarks in the substance abuse treatment field.

Not every person arriving at a recovery center carries the same background or the same recovery challenges. Sanford House at Cherry Street has structured its programs specifically around women, veterans, and first responders — groups whose experiences with trauma, occupational stress, and identity often shape both addiction and the recovery process. This focus means treatment is oriented around the real-life contexts these populations bring with them.

The clinical team addresses not only substance use but also co-occurring mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, along with alcohol addiction, opioid addiction, fentanyl addiction, heroin addiction, benzodiazepine addiction, cocaine addiction, meth addiction, prescription drug addiction, and polysubstance use. Medication-assisted treatment is available, and family therapy is integrated as part of the overall treatment approach — recognizing that the people surrounding a person in recovery are part of that recovery.

Discharge is not the finish line at Sanford House at Cherry Street. The center maintains a sober living program, a structured aftercare program, and an alumni and family program — three distinct resources that keep the recovery community connected after residential or outpatient treatment ends. For the Sober Nation audience evaluating where to build a lasting recovery, this layer of post-treatment support is often what separates a short-term intervention from a durable change.

Family therapy is part of the active treatment model, not just a discharge afterthought. By involving family members during treatment and continuing that engagement through the alumni and family program, Sanford House at Cherry Street positions itself as a recovery partner for the full household — not just the individual seeking treatment.

Sanford House at Cherry Street uses a combination of individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy, nutrition counseling, a 12-step approach, and medication-assisted treatment. This blend reflects a clinical model that neither relies exclusively on peer-based 12-step philosophy nor dismisses it — both structured therapeutic work and community-based recovery principles are present. Nutrition counseling, notably, signals attention to the physical dimensions of recovery that go beyond behavioral change alone.

The center is led by Rae Green, the founder, who holds credentials as a JD, LPC, and CAADC, and by CEO Tracy Rogers, LPC. Clinical leadership with those credentials indicates direct professional investment in the treatment model — this is not a facility where the clinical philosophy is disconnected from the people running the organization.