General Information
Mission Statement
TROSA is an innovative, multi-year residential program that enables substance abusers to be productive, recovering individuals by providing comprehensive treatment, work-based vocational training, education, and continuing care.
Overview
TROSA is a comprehensive, long-term, residential substance abuse recovery program located in Durham, North Carolina. Founded in 1994, TROSA is now the largest state licensed residential therapeutic community in North Carolina and is widely respected for its innovative therapeutic and entrepreneurial approach to the pervasive issue of substance abuse.
TROSA operates a highly structured and disciplined program from several facilities in Durham, and accepts substance abusers with one condition: they must have a strong desire to change their lives. Key elements of the two-year program include vocational training, education, communication, peer counseling, mentoring, leadership training and aftercare. The program is provided at no cost to the individual.
TROSA serves a diverse population that otherwise might not have any hope. Most residents have struggled with addiction to drugs or alcohol for more than ten years. Nearly 93% have a criminal record, and about one in three come to TROSA as an alternative to immediate incarceration. Seventy percent of TROSA residents are African American. Over 35% identify themselves as homeless when they arrive. Some have serious health problems. Some do not read and write, and nearly half left high school without graduating. The majority of TROSA residents come from North Carolina.
TROSA's "Each One, Teach One" motto and the organization's focus on leadership training enable residents to learn important life skills and to receive valuable vocational training in the businesses that TROSA operates in its community. Through our aftercare program, TROSA graduates are assisted with their job search and placement, with low-cost community housing renovated and owned by TROSA, with obtaining drivers licenses and acquiring their first cars through TROSA's car donation program, and with maintenance of their new, drug-free lives.
The TROSA formula works. Hundreds of people have graduated from TROSA's program. For these individuals, even though they face a lifetime of recovery, their experience is fundamentally changed. Lives formerly characterized by personal pain and failure are now buoyed by a new sense of caring, and a new sense of hope and promise.
Therapeutic Community Defined
A therapeutic community is a drug-free residential setting that uses a hierarchical model with treatment stages that reflect increased levels of personal and social responsibility. The community relies on its members - both treatment staff and those in recovery - as key agents of change. For more information on therapeutic communities, see the National Institute on Drug Abuse website.
Financial Information
Please contact us if you would like to receive a hard copy of our annual reports. You can download a PDF of our most recent publication here. A copy of our IRS Form 990, can be viewed here.