Staffing: Essential Staff Responsibilities

All recovery homes take individuals to run them properly. No matter the level of support, recovery homes need to have a person, whether it is a volunteer, paid staff member or independent contractor, who is responsible for the following things:

• Ensuring that safety equipment is in good working order (such as fire extinguishers, smoke alarms), etc.
• Checking the home periodically for physical safety hazards (such as overloaded outlets or egresses being blocked)
• Orienting new residents into the home and ensuring they understand all of the program’s policies and procedures
• Ensuring that house meetings occur at least once a week and that all residents attend
• Responding to concerns from neighbors, should they occur

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These responsibilities can be implemented by senior residents, volunteers, the owner of the home, a house manager or another paid position. It is critical that it is made clear that someone is responsible for all of these items. Even in a Level I home, it is important to ensure that there is an identified person who can take responsibility for all responsibilities stated above. This ensures the overall safety and wellbeing of the home and the residents who reside there.

Some responsibilities occur in all recovery homes and must be completed by a person who is being paid or compensated in some fashion to perform the work. These include:

• Having a person available for residents if they need additional support or there is an emergency
• Reviewing, responding and documenting resident grievances
• Reviewing and responding to incident reports and documents responses
• Responding when there is a serious violation of the Code of Conduct

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At Level III and Level II homes, these items are usually performed by the compensated person within the home. At a Level I home, this may be a staff person or the owner/operator of the organization. However, because these responsibilities are serious, they should be performed by a compensated individual, whether it is a staff person at a larger organization that operates multiple levels of support or the owner or operator of an individual Level I home.

Let’s take a closer look at staff responsibilities for Level III and Level II recovery homes.

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(Learn more from Ohio MHAS’s Recovery Housing Development Guidebook.)