Women's sober living near Whittier

Whittier has the deepest referral bench in this corridor. PIH Health is one of the largest hospitals in southeast Los Angeles County, the courthouse and probation office are both in the city, and there are two established women's shelters. What none of them have is somewhere for a woman to live afterward.

Treatment and hospitals

PIH Health Hospital — Whittier, 12401 Washington Boulevard, (562) 698-0811, carries 488 licensed beds (CHHS facility data). It is the discharge point that matters most here: a woman leaving an emergency department or an inpatient stay with a substance use history and no stable address is the single most common referral a house like this receives.

The city also has two women's shelters, which is unusual. Alice's House, 14100 Glengyle Street, (562) 777-1222, runs 19 beds for women and their children, and the Women's and Children's Crisis Shelter operates a hotline at (562) 945-3939 (LA County DPSS).

Neither is a competitor. Both are short-stay crisis and shelter programs, which means both are constantly working the same problem we are: where does she live next. We provide housing only — no clinical care, no counselling, no case management, and we do not accept children.

Women's meetings

There is a women's meeting in the city: Saturday Morning Women's Acceptance, Saturdays 10:30 a.m., 16153 Russell Street (LA Central Office of AA). Step Sisters Women's, Tuesdays 6:30 p.m., 12336 Penn Street also meets in Whittier (LA Central Office).

Residents pick their own recovery support program, secular or faith-based. We do not designate a program, require a particular meeting, or hold meetings at the house.

Survivors of domestic violence

Some of the women we house are leaving an abusive home rather than a treatment bed. For them the housing question is the whole question — the practical alternative to a bed is often going back to the person she left.

We do not publish the address of the house. It is given only to accepted residents and to the agencies that refer them. And to be clear about what this is: Her Aria is not a licensed domestic violence shelter. We do not provide protective services, security services, legal advocacy, restraining order help or safety planning. Those stay with a woman's own advocate, attorney and law enforcement agency.

More on housing for survivors of domestic violence, including who pays for it.

Whittier's DV resources include the Women's and Children's Crisis Shelter, (562) 945-3939, and Helpline Youth Counseling, (562) 864-3722 (LA County DPSS). County-wide, the LA County DV Hotline is 1-800-978-3600 and the District Attorney's Bureau of Victim Services is (800) 380-3811 (LA County DA).

What Whittier doesn't have

The CCAPP registry lists no recovery residence inside the city, and there are zero network listings (CCAPP; Sober Living Network). Against a 488-bed hospital, a courthouse, a probation area office and two women's shelters, that is a real hole — and the shelters are short-stay by design.

We are about half an hour east: women only, gated, MAT welcome, one monthly fee, no deposit. Refer a client.

Getting here from Whittier

Whittier connects north to the Metrolink San Bernardino Line corridor, which runs east through the valley toward the house (Metrolink; Metro). Residents keep their own jobs, prescribers and court dates — getting to them without a car is the test that matters.

Referrals answered the same day. Refer a client or see what's included.