Following her tragic death from alcohol-related causes in 2011, the Amy Winehouse Foundation has opened a sober house for recovering female addicts. As of August 1, the safe haven called “Amy’s Place,” is fully functional and located in east London as a home for those struggling to overcome the addictions that claimed her life.
The recovery house is comprised of 12 apartments, with four that contain two beds and the whole operation houses up to 16 women at a time. “Amy’s Place” is specifically geared towards women, and is one of only a few sober living environments in the UK to do so. Research shows that women are more in danger of relapsing following traditional rehab without support services in place.
The special project director at the Amy Winehouse Foundation, Dominic Ruffy, said in an interview with The Guardian, “There are about six women-only rehabs, and beyond that, there’s an even greater paucity of women-specific recovery housing beds. There is only one other women-only recovery house in London and it’s only a four-bed with a six-month waiting list.”
“Amy’s Place” also reportedly operates under a “co-production model,” which allows the women to have shared control over the services in place that are working to help their recovery.
He further said in the interview, “Our experience shows if you give people an extended period of time post-traditional rehabilitation treatment, you will improve the percentage of people who stay clean [in the] long term. We have a saying in recovery that the drink and drugs aren’t our problem, it’s living life clean and sober.”
Winehouse died at the age of 27 from accidental alcohol poisoning and the foundation was set up by her family following her passing. The Amy Winehouse Foundation’s goal is to both prevent young people from falling into drugs, in addition to help those less fortunate reach greater heights in life.
