Reno Recovery at STEP2 Helps Mothers Stay With Their Children During Recovery

At STEP2 in Reno, women move through residential treatment, transitional housing, and outpatient support without putting parenting on hold. At Lighthouse Campus, women can live with their children in one-, two-, or three-bedroom cottages while continuing therapy, with parenting and childcare assistance built into the program. Help is available through online applications, a QR code, assessments by phone, and walk-ins Monday through Thursday at 1 PM.

STEP2 began in Reno in 1986 with a conviction that treatment and motherhood belong in the same plan. The organization says it has served more than 5,200 women since then, including mothers, pregnant women, and women with children. For anyone looking to support women’s recovery programs in Reno, STEP2 connects treatment with housing, parenting, childcare, and ongoing support. Step 2 Inc

STEP2 treats family stability as recovery infrastructure, with places to live, care for children, pursue work, and keep receiving support after the first hard stretch of treatment.

How Reno recovery programs support women after treatment

The route begins at the Redfield Residential Facility, where women receive residential treatment in dormitory-style living with supervised social and creative activities. In 2015, STEP2 added a 20-bed residential facility that includes a postpartum wing and resource center. That expansion reflects STEP2’s effort to address treatment alongside pregnancy, postpartum care, and parenting demands.

The Lighthouse Campus provides one-, two-, and three-bedroom cottages for women who have completed residential treatment. Residents continue therapy and can have their children live with them as they move toward outpatient care and stable housing.

STEP2 extends the path again through outpatient therapy and support for women leaving residential or transitional housing, as well as those already living off campus with stable housing. Parenting classes, childcare assistance, and breastfeeding support keep the plan grounded in the actual work of raising children.

Employment development brings résumé help, interview skills, interview clothing, transportation to interviews, and monthly bus passes.

The organization has continued adding the practical pieces. It partnered with the Boys & Girls Club of Truckee Meadows to open an on-site Early Learning Center in 2019, opened an on-campus Family Medical Clinic in 2021, and launched a Mental Health Clinic staffed by two therapists in 2023.

The 2025 count makes family continuity visible

STEP2’s 2025 annual report says 178 women and their children found stability and support during the year. That number carries more weight alongside another figure from the organization: about 70% of women who come for treatment have minor children.

In 2025, STEP2’s Board of Directors received the Community Foundation of Northern Nevada’s 100% Giving Board Award, a concrete sign of local commitment to the organization’s work.

Practical support for STEP2 families

STEP2 currently lists diapers, crock pots, dish soap, maternity clothes, and kitchen trash bins among its needs. These are practical household supplies for women and children in the program.

A gift can fund diapers for one family for one month, three months of family therapy for one family, a safe and sober community event or creative group activity, or six months of transitional housing in a Lighthouse Cottage, according to STEP2. Donations and volunteer time both meet a real operational need here, from donation drop-off support to group volunteer opportunities.