Fort Lyon used to be a Military hospital, a mental institution, even a prison at one time. It is located just outside the small town of Las Animas, CO, in the Southeast corner of Colorado, in Bent County.
The Fort Lyon Supportive Residential Community is now administered by the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless and funded by the State of Colorado as well as private donations.
It serves as housing and as a supportive residence and resource center for residents who used to be chronically homeless, suffer from some mental disability, or just alcohol and/or drug abusers, or all of the above. Which is usually the case.
It does have a Colorado Coalition for the Homeless staff, but for the most part the facility is ran by the residents, or ex-residents. There is no formal "graduation." But we do move on after two years, either to permanent housing or next level transitional housing programs throughout the State. Some may even eventually find housing outside of Colorado.
It is co-ed, more men than women, but this video just depicts some of the buildings and there functions now.
The Facility is great place to live for those of us suffering from addiction, homelessness, and/or mental problems. We can pretty much pick and choose what groups, therapies, and classes we want to do, if any at all. Nothing is really mandatory here, everything is voluntary. You can stay for up to two years until we move on to other housing, etc.
The only real mandatory requirements are a "new beginnings" course lasting only 6 weeks, one hour a week. We also have 3 weekly, mandatory "Community Meetings", which are usually short, consisting of recovery topics, ideas, literature, etc. We also discuss various community and facility needs, wants, desires, complaints, etc. And lastly, we honor those with sobriety and recovery milestones.
The place is packed with Creativity, art, music, groups, therapies, library, computers, religious activities, etc. Never boring and you can even check out a bicycle. It is completely free of charge and a wonderful place to be and get clean and sober.
For more information you may contact the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, web site about Fort Lyon at the following URL...
https://www.coloradocoalition.org/faces-of-fort-lyon
Thank you for your interest and support!
Steven Smith
