Our Blog

What’s New at The Empowerment Center and Marvel Way?

Keep reading for success stories, expansion updates, partner profiles, and more.

gabi vascan headshot

Welcoming Gabi Vascan

The Empowerment Center is excited to extend the warmest of welcomes to our newest Board Member, Gabi Vascan! As Co-Founder of Pulse Business Consulting and a University of Nevada-Reno MBA graduate, Vascan looks forward to sharing her financial experience, as well as her expertise in guiding executive teams in strategy

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karen mckinneys headshot

How EMDR Works for Addiction Treatment

At The Empowerment Center, our recovery approach is to look at the whole of every woman who walks through our doors and treat the root causes of her addiction. For many, their addictions stem from past traumas – making EMDR an especially helpful treatment tool! For the past year, Karen

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headshot of betty matthews

Living at Marvel Way, with Betty Mathews

When Betty Mathews lost her job during COVID, she turned to alcohol. She lost her housing too – and since her family didn’t want to take her in while she was drinking, found herself sleeping in her car with her two dogs. She showered and ate at the Hopes campus,

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rikki reedle sitting at her computer in her marvel way reno office

Meet Our New Property Manager, Rikki Freedle

We’re thrilled to officially welcome Rikki Freedle as the new Property Manager at our Marvel Way sober living apartments! Along with this change, we’ve also switched to working with Eugene Burger Management Corporation, our new partner in running the day-to-day operations of our soon-to-be 88-unit apartment complex.  As our Property

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Welcoming Cristyn Russo to Our Board!

We’re excited to announce the addition of a new member to the Empowerment Center Board of Directors: Cristyn Russo! Russo is Commissions Supervisor at TriNet, a cloud-based Human Resources solutions company, where her role is a hybrid of operations and accounting. She’s been a part of Northern Nevada’s philanthropic community

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Our BIGGEST Changes of 2024

At The Empowerment Center and Marvel Way, we’re once again feeling like this year has absolutely been our biggest yet – for both sides of our organization! At The Empowerment Center, we’ve improved our 5-month women’s treatment program, finalized the design for our new 83-bed treatment facility, and chosen a

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empowerment center client Nicole Hulihee riding a horse with pine trees and grassy nevada hills in background

Nicole Hulihee on Making Marvel Way Her Home

“Without Marvel Way, without having this beautiful place, I know I would be back on the streets or doing drugs again. And my kids need me. They need a level-headed mom who isn’t on drugs anymore.“ Nicole Hulihee has been sober for a year and lives in a 1-bedroom sober-living

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woman sitting in a chair reading about the empowerment center in the newspaper

Our New Website is LIVE!

The Empowerment Center is growing, and with these changes we’re excited to announce our organization’s new look, both on and offline! We’ve updated our website to better reflect who we are, the community we serve, and how we’re expanding our offerings. As we get ready to break ground on TEC2,

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tec graduate mariah allbee at reno aces game

Finding Freedom from Addiction, with Mariah Allbee

Growing up, Mariah Allbee knows she was a good kid. Born and raised in Reno, she did well in school and enjoyed camping and road trips with her family. She was the youngest of 3 siblings from her mom, and her dad’s only child. Mariah’s shift happened gradually. At 15,

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solar for all press conference group photo with 7 empowerment center staff and partners

Introducing: the First 100% Solar Low-Income Housing…and more!

At Marvel Way, we’re redefining what supportive housing should look like! Our apartment complex has always been a Nevada First – and since we opened our doors nearly two years ago, we’ve continued to expand our offerings. What makes our sober housing different? This summer, we grew our community while

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Providing Medical Care & Addiction Treatment, Together

At The Empowerment Center, we provide wrap-around services for women struggling with addiction – including medical care! It’s one of our fastest growing sets of supportive programs, and one that makes our care model truly unique. Nearly all the women entering treatment at The Empowerment Center have co-occurring mental health

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Getting to know Misty Rodrigue, House Manager at The Empwoerment Center

Getting to Know Misty Rodrigue

“Once my children became teenagers, independent, they didn’t need me as much. I started drinking one day and I didn’t stop. For about seven years straight, every day, all day.” Today, Misty Rodrigue is a House Manager at The Empowerment Center’s 5-month treatment program. She works the swing shift, her

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the empowerment center's 5 2024 summer interns posing together in our treatment center's green backyard

Introducing Our 2024 Summer Interns

At The Empowerment Center, we’re proud to include several University of Nevada, Reno  (UNR) interns in the work we do. At both The Empowerment Center and Marvel Way, our interns support our clients and enhance our efforts by leading groups, improving communications around our programs, and sharing their specialized knowledge.

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shannon castor in las vegas

Redirecting Her Hustle – with Shannon Castor

“I knew that I could hustle when I was doing bad. So why can’t I just flip it over into doing good? I just buckled down and went for it and put my head straight.” Beginning in her teens, Shannon was running the streets of Las Vegas. She continued for

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ashley ward headshot

Meet Ashley Ward

Ashley Ward’s an Empowerment Center (TEC) graduate from 2016 – and has also been a Peer Support at TEC since 2019. She works with clients 1:1, guiding them through their addiction treatment. This can mean anything from walking them through the stages of their personal programs to helping with doctors’

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3 children at movie night at the marvel way sober living apartments

Celebrating & Supporting Moms in Recovery

Happy Mother’s Day, from The Empowerment Center! As a women-focused treatment center, The Empowerment Center is all about appreciating our current (and future) moms. For so many women, their recoveries and families are closely tied. Most moms choose to get treatment in part because of their children, when they see

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Steve Maxwell headshot

Steve Maxwell’s Recovery Story & 15 Years At TEC

Meet Our Program Director Steve Maxwell has been with The Empowerment Center since just about Day 1. New to Northern Nevada (and in recovery himself) he joined us as Housing Manager in 2009. He was here for the first walk-through of today’s Virginia Street treatment center, was a part of

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woman in pink filling out workforce development workbook at the empowerment center addiction treatment centers garden gazeebo

How We Get Our Clients Back to Work

When our clients enter treatment at The Empowerment Center, (TEC) most are out of work and many have complicated backgrounds of arrest and incarceration. Guiding them in finding work, overcoming barriers, and building careers is an important piece of what we do. During the first 30 days of TEC’s 5-month

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first floor of the empowerment center's new hq's design drawings

Taking a Peek at Our New HQ

At The Empowerment Center, we’re looking forward to our new headquarters and treatment center – TEC2. While we’ve loved our South Virginia home since 2005, as we’ve evolved from our roots as The Launching Pad halfway house to the addiction treatment center we are today we’ve come to need more

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Jasmin Malik’s Recovery Story

“After everything I’ve gone through, The Empowerment Center’s one of the best – actually – the best rehab program for women in Reno. If you stick through it, it really works,” declares Jasmin Malik. Jasmin graduated from The Empowerment Center’ 5-month treatment program on June 11, 2023. She’s also the

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headshot of Amy Aranda, The Empowerment Center's intern from the University of Nevada Reno School of Social Work

Our Partnership with the UNR School of Social Work

The Empowerment Center is proud to partner with the University of Nevada Reno (UNR) School of Social Work’s Field Education program. Since 2022, we’ve been working with interns pursuing both Masters and Bachelors degrees. Each student is given a list of local organizations to choose from and applies for positions

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reno's empowerment center women's addiction treatment center design rendering

Introducing: A NEW Empowerment Center HQ!

‘Tis the season to celebrate! We have so much to rejoice in as we close out 2023! This year was HUGE, for both The Empowerment Center and Marvel Way. We’ve been busy improving our programs, growing our resources, and setting the stage for bigger things to come. We’re excited about

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headshot of roxanne decarlo, executive director of reno's empowerment center addiction treatment program

Meet Roxanne DeCarlo, Our Executive Director

In 2023, Roxanne DeCarlo celebrated her 9th year as Executive Director of The Empowerment Center! In her time with TEC, she’s led us through quite the journey – from our early years as a co-ed halfway house, to supporting women struggling with alcoholism and addiction, to expanding our services to

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empowerment center board member lee hernandez

Welcome Lee Hernandez to The Empowerment Center Board!

The Empowerment Center is proud to welcome Lee Hernandez to our Board of Directors! Lee Hernandez is CFO at Lumos & Associates, a multidisciplinary engineering firm providing structural, civil, geotechnical, surveys, and construction services in Nevada and California. He also founded Firmament Financial, a wealth management company that does investment

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outside of Marvel Way sober living apartments in Reno, NV

Introducing: Sober Living at Marvel Way

Did you know? Sober living is most likely to be sustained in a safe, supportive, and clean environment. Our Marvel Way Apartments do just that! Last fall, Marvel Way (managed by The Empowerment Center) opened its doors as the first-of-its-kind in Nevada. We’re offering 42 affordable sober living apartments to

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community garden at the empowerment center

What’s New at The Empowerment Center?

The Empowerment Center is dedicated to helping women who suffer from substance use disorders restore their dignity and quality of life. Since you’ve last heard from us, a lot has changed! We’ve been expanding client services, updating our programming, providing medication-assisted treatment onsite, and remodeling our rooms to better support

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