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About Free at Last – Malaika House
Free at Last – Malaika House is a 14‑bed residential facility for women facing substance use challenges in Palo Alto, California. It’s nestled near the bayfront and University Avenue, just over a mile southeast of Ravenswood Open Space Preserve and a mile from the Varsity Theatre. The surroundings reflect a balance of calm and connection making it an ideal backdrop for steady, focused recovery.
One of Malaika House’s core strengths is its ability to accommodate women and their children under six in a supportive onsite living environment. Four of the 14 beds are reserved for children, ensuring families can stay together in a caring space. By enabling mothers and their young children to heal together, the program strengthens family bonds and helps rebuild trust while promoting resilience and hope for a healthier future.
This agency prioritizes culturally competent care, offering bilingual services in English and Spanish to better serve its multicultural community. Services are delivered regardless of a client’s ability to pay, with a sliding fee scale available to support those with limited income.
Structured Care for Women and their Children
At Malaika House, residents are guided toward long-term abstinence through structured daily routines, trauma-informed therapy and recovery-centered peer support. You’re expected to actively engage in over 20 hours of therapeutic and educational sessions each week to reclaim your sense of self and lay the emotional groundwork for lifelong transformation.
Emphasis is on developing practical life skills that encourage personal independence with a special focus on strengthening parenting abilities. Regular attendance at AA and NA 12 Step meetings helps reinforce your recovery while connecting you to a broader community of support. You’ll also benefit from clean and sober social activities like communal meals, wellness events and group outings to rediscover joy, restore emotional balance and strengthen your sense of belonging. Children receive developmentally appropriate and substance-exposure services that nurture resilience, cognitive growth and healthy attachment.
The program lasts three months, during which you’re expected to complete your recovery goals, secure housing and either obtain stable employment or enroll in job training to graduate. Aftercare support follows a ‘lifetime membership’ model, featuring weekly groups and quarterly events tailored to sustain long-term stability.
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Our Methodology
Other Forms of Payment
Self-pay involves paying for treatment out of your own pocket. You can use savings or credit, get a personal loan, or receive help from family and friends to fund your treatment. If you don't have insurance or your insurance plan doesn't cover a specific program, self-pay can help ensure you still get the care you need.
Sliding scale payments are based on a client's income and family size. The goal is to make treatment affordable to everyone. By taking these factors into account, addiction recovery care providers help ensure that your treatment does not become a financial burden to you or your family, eliminating one barrier to care.
Medicaid is a state based program that helps lower-income individuals and families pay for healthcare. Medicaid covers addiction treatment so those enrolled can use their coverage to pay for rehab. When a program accepts Medicaid the client often pays very little or nothing out of their own pocket.
Medicare is a federal program that provides health insurance for those 65 and older. It also serves people under 65 with chronic and disabling health challenges. To use Medicare for addiction treatment you need to find a program that accepts Medicare and is in network with your plan. Out of pocket costs and preauthorization requirements vary, so always check with your provider.
Addiction Treatments
Levels of Care
Residential treatment programs are those that offer housing and meals in addition to substance abuse treatment. Rehab facilities that offer residential treatment allow patients to focus solely on recovery, in an environment totally separate from their lives. Some rehab centers specialize in short-term residential treatment (a few days to a week or two), while others solely provide treatment on a long-term basis (several weeks to months). Some offer both, and tailor treatment to the patient's individual requirements.
Completing a drug or alcohol rehab program shouldn't spell the end of substance abuse treatment. Aftercare involves making a sustainable plan for recovery, including ongoing support. This can include sober living arrangements like halfway houses, career counseling, and setting a patient up with community programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA).
12-step programs are addiction recovery models based on Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). A number of substance abuse programs (including some drug and alcohol rehab centers) use the 12 steps as a basis for treatment. Beginning steps involve admitting powerlessness over the addiction and creating a spiritual basis for recovery. Middle steps including making direct amends to those who've been hurt by the addiction, and the final step is to assist others in addiction recovery in the same way. 12-Step offshoots including Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Cocaine Anonymous (CA), Dual Recovery Anonymous (DRA), Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA) and Gamblers Anonymous (GA).
Treatments
The goal of treatment for alcoholism is abstinence. Those with poor social support, poor motivation, or psychiatric disorders tend to relapse within a few years of treatment. For these people, success is measured by longer periods of abstinence, reduced use of alcohol, better health, and improved social functioning. Recovery and Maintenance are usually based on 12 step programs and AA meetings.
Drug rehab in California teaches participants constructive ways to stay clean and sober. Treatment revolves around helping individuals stop using the substance they are addicted to and learn healthy habits to avoid relapse.
Opioid rehabs specialize in supporting those recovering from opioid addiction. They treat those suffering from addiction to illegal opioids like heroin, as well as prescription drugs like oxycodone. These centers typically combine both physical as well as mental and emotional support to help stop addiction. Physical support often includes medical detox and subsequent medical support (including medication), and mental support includes in-depth therapy to address the underlying causes of addiction.
Substance rehabs focus on helping individuals recover from substance abuse, including alcohol and drug addiction (both illegal and prescription drugs). They often include the opportunity to engage in both individual as well as group therapy.
Programs
Adult rehab programs include therapies tailored to each client's specific needs, goals, and recovery progress. They are tailored to the specific challenges adult clients may face, including family and work pressures and commitments. From inpatient and residential treatment to various levels of outpatient services, there are many options available. Some facilities also help adults work through co-occurring conditions, like anxiety, that can accompany addiction.
Young adulthood can be an exciting, yet difficult, time of transition. Individuals in their late teens to mid-20s face unique stressors related to school, jobs, families, and social circles, which can lead to a rise in substance use. Rehab centers with dedicated young adult programs will include activities and amenities that cater to this age group, with an emphasis on specialized counseling, peer socialization, and ongoing aftercare.
Clinical Services
Research clearly demonstrates that recovery is far more successful and sustainable when loved ones like family members participate in rehab and substance abuse treatment. Genetic factors may be at play when it comes to drug and alcohol addiction, as well as mental health issues. Family dynamics often play a critical role in addiction triggers, and if properly educated, family members can be a strong source of support when it comes to rehabilitation.
Group therapy is any therapeutic work that happens in a group (not one-on-one). There are a number of different group therapy modalities, including support groups, experiential therapy, psycho-education, and more. Group therapy involves treatment as well as processing interaction between group members.
In individual therapy, a patient meets one-on-one with a trained psychologist or counselor. Therapy is a pivotal part of effective substance abuse treatment, as it often covers root causes of addiction, including challenges faced by the patient in their social, family, and work/school life.
Life skills trainings involve all the skills a person must have in order to function successfully in the world. These include time management, career guidance, money management, and effective communication. Truly successful addiction recovery is based on the ability to not only live substance-free, but to thrive. Life skills teaches the practical necessities of functioning in society, which sets clients up for success in life, and therefore sobriety.
Contact Information
1796 Bay Rd
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
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