We're all in this together.
A SANCTUARY FOR TRANSFORMATION.
We welcomed the first women into their new home in Austin in 2020. Our community focuses on holistic healing that addresses recovery from trauma and addiction and provides tools to thrive in the future. As women learn to live in a healthy community and take care of one another, they build lifelong friendships which will carry them throughout their lives. While building community, they learn together how to create the lives they want for themselves by accessing therapy, completing and advancing their education, gaining professional development, and learning healthy relationship skills.
each woman, every day.
Our survivor-led model sees women as the drivers of their own recovery, with guidance from trained staff as needed. We help facilitate what each woman wants for herself every day. Survivors work alongside the Residential Support Specialist to develop an individualized recovery plan and connect with the services they need. In the first six months, participants begin to heal from trauma and receive medical, dental, mental health, and substance abuse counseling. They participate in intensive educational programming that includes life skills, financial literacy, and professional development.
Our therapeutic program is specifically designed to serve adult women survivors within a female-centered therapeutic community environment. The program is rooted in shared lived experience, relational healing, and peer-based emotional safety within a communal living setting. We strive to ensure every participant has the time, stability, and access to care needed to heal and thrive.
“I never knew peace was possible. Magdalene House gave me my life back.”
- Magdalene House Graduate
HEAL.
longterm therapeutic residential program
The women participate in a two-year, long-term therapeutic community program built on holistic care. With basic needs such as lodging, food, and clothing provided, participants are able to focus fully on healing without the immediate pressures of survival.
Our program functions as a peer-based relational healing environment, where participants grow alongside others who share similar experiences and identity-based safety. Being together in this intentional community helps develop relational trust, emotional regulation skills, daily living rhythms, and healthy support networks that continue long after the program.
EMPOWER.
Job training and education.
The women are offered education and employment training to help them realize their goals and build long-term economic independence. Survivors have the opportunity to pursue GED certification, college courses, vocational training, and internship programs with Austin-area businesses.
These opportunities are integrated into our peer-based therapeutic community, where participants are supported in building confidence, self-advocacy, and professional identity as part of their healing journey.
THRIVE.
Above all, love.
We strive to create a community of love, respect, and acceptance for every participant. Our program is grounded in relational healing, where women support one another through shared lived experience, empathy, and encouragement.
Of the women who enter the Magdalene House program, 84% graduate clean and sober—a percentage rarely seen in long-term recovery settings. We believe this is because Magdalene House is not an institution, but a therapeutic community committed to the belief that love, belonging, and connection are the most powerful forces for change.
Our model has 27 years of success behind it.
Magdalene House of Austin is modeled after the therapeutic community established in Nashville by Rev. Becca Stevens in 1997, originally known as Magdalene and now part of Thistle Farms. As Friends of Thistle Farms, we draw inspiration from nearly three decades of residential programming and a nationwide network united by the belief that love heals.
The Nashville community serves women who have experienced trafficking, addiction, and other forms of complex trauma. Its approach centers on providing a safe place to live, meaningful opportunities for employment, and a lasting community of support. Women have time to build trust, strengthen relationships, and develop the skills and resources needed to move toward independence.
Since 1997, this model has emphasized that recovery requires both relational support and practical opportunities. Stable housing, access to care, employment, and a supportive community form the foundation of its work. These principles guide Magdalene House of Austin as we support women in rebuilding their lives and pursuing lasting safety, connection, and independence.