TOPIC: The Important Role of Sober Living Residences in the Recovery Journey

Special Guest: Daryl Murray

SUMMARY: Samaritan Recovery Community welcomed a large audience from the community to hear Daryl Murray, executive director and founder of Welcome Home Ministries, talk about the importance of sober living residences in recovery. He emphasized the structure and support these residences provide and spoke warmly of the value of welcome, warmth and grace in helping individuals in recovery.

Welcome Home Ministries (WHM) is a faith-based alcohol and drug recovery support ministry, established in 1992 by Founder and Executive Director Daryl Murray. Its mission is “to enter worlds of brokenness in order that all might experience wholeness in Jesus Christ.” WHM will celebrate 34 years of ministry on December 9, 2026. Since 1992, WHM has ministered to the poor and homeless in Middle Tennessee that suffer from the “brokenness” of alcohol and other drug addictions.

WHM supports men in recovery from substance use disorder (SUD), opioid use disorder (OUD) and/or co-occurring mental health conditions. Since 2011, WHM’s recovery housing capacity has grown from 24 to 85 beds – a 254% increase. Its recovery support program is administered in a 24/7 affordable, “safe, healthy, family-like substance-free living environments that support individuals in recovery from addiction.” (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — SAMHSA).

WHM purchased two of its 11 recovery residences on July 11, 2025 — four apartments with a total of eight recovery beds for recovery program graduates in a substance free living environment. In 2025, Welcome Home Ministries had a total of 210 congregate living recovery housing participants and 25 graduates living in four graduate recovery residences for a total of 235 men served in one of its 11 recovery residences.