In 1965, Wellspring began its journey under the corporate name of The Bangor Half-Way House, with a mission to provide substance use services for homeless and low-income individuals in northern Maine. It was the first public treatment program for alcoholism in the region. Three years later, in 1968, the Men’s Halfway House opened its doors at 98 Cumberland Street. This facility aimed to help alcoholics regain sobriety, self-respect, and ultimately reintegrate into society. This currently is our Men’s House offering a long-term 4-6 month residential program with the capacity of 15 clients.
In 1981, a significant expansion took place with the opening of Maine’s first halfway house for women, supported by a grant from the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse. Both facilities were reorganized to include educational and vocational classes alongside individual and group counseling for men and women. This currently is our Women’s House offering a long-term 4-6 month residential program with the capacity of 15 clients.
Wellspring continued to grow in the 1980s with the launch of Project D.A.R.E. in 1982, which provided outpatient counseling to inmates across several Maine correctional facilities. This project ran until 1988 when the state took over its own substance abuse counseling services, but Wellspring returned to offer services again in 2001. In 1985, the organization was restructured into Wellspring, Inc., a private nonprofit corporation to better manage and expand its services.
By 1987, Wellspring had added mental health services, including a licensed clinical social worker as the clinical director and a psychiatrist for consultations. It also began offering outpatient counseling for families and individuals impacted by substance use, thanks to a contract with the State of Maine. The same year, Wellspring launched Project Rebound, a rehabilitation program for adolescents. This program, which included a school component, ran until 1995 before closing due to reimbursement issues.
Through the 1990s, Wellspring continued to innovate, including a partnership in 1990 with Community Health and Counseling Services to provide outpatient services to those with both mental illness and substance addiction. In the early 2000s, the organization expanded its reach further. In 2000, Wellspring joined the Juvenile Justice Network to provide treatment services for adolescents in drug courts, although this program ended five years later. Meanwhile, in 2003, the Bangor Half-Way House purchased two buildings to create transitional housing for individuals completing Wellspring’s treatment programs.
As the decade progressed, Wellspring worked to support pregnant and parenting women struggling with substance use and in 2017, Wellspring opened the long-awaited Infinity House, a co-occurring capable, residential facility for mothers and children. This program provides long-term substance use treatment for women who are pregnant or parenting children under five years old, marking a significant step in Wellspring’s mission to support vulnerable families in their recovery journey. The Infinity House (Women with Children) currently offers a long-term 4-6 month residential program with the capacity of 10 mothers with children.
In late 2017, Wellspring opened the New Horizon’s Detox Center initially as a social model with 10 beds. Currently, this is a medically-supervised detox program providing treatment for those who are struggling from withdrawal from opiates, alcohol, and/or benzodiazepine addiction.
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