ELLICOTT CITY, MD – Howard County Executive Calvin Ball today joined Tuerk House’s CEO Bernard Gyebi-Foster and Board Chairman Dr. H. Duante Duckett to cut the ribbon on Tuerk House’s new Highland House in Howard County. This new 16-bed residential treatment facility will assist pregnant women recover from substance misuse. Pictures from the event can be found here.

What better way to celebrate Women's History Month, then by unveiling this home geared towards providing a sanctuary for women on their recovery journey. In last year’s Fiscal Year 2024 Operating Budget, we committed a $500,000 grant to Tuerk House to help make this new facility a reality. Today, as we open Highland House, we are building on our efforts to save lives, support all our neighbors and help build a brighter future for all.

Calvin Ball
Howard County Executive

Treatment options for people struggling with substance use and mental health challenges, including opioid addiction, have been limited in Howard County. Since taking office, Ball has made it a priority to fill these gaps through the expansion of Howard County’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program and increase access to crisis, outpatient and residential services. Progress includes: 

  • In 2019, Grassroots Crisis Intervention opened the Crisis Stabilization Center for individuals in need of immediate care 24/7, often used as an alternative to the emergency room.
  • In 2019, Howard County renovated one of its properties to open Howard House, a recovery house for men.  
  • In 2019, Hilda’s Place opened, Howard County’s first recovery house for adult women.
  • In 2021, Ball formed a unique partnership with Sheppard Pratt, Howard House and Hilda’s Place to bring comprehensive residential treatment to Howard County.  
  • In 2021, Sheppard Pratt opened its new 85-bed hospital in Elkridge, which includes walk-in mental health services.
  • In 2023, Ball announced funding for Johns Hopkins Howard County Medical Center’s new emergency Behavioral Health Unit, Sheppard Pratt’s crisis center and an additional residential recovery home for pregnant women, which are set to open in the coming months and years.

Highland House joins Howard County’s two other supportive halfway houses – Tuerk House’s 16-bedroom Howard House for men in Ellicott City and Hilda’s Foundation’s (initially known as Hilda’s Place) 16-bed recovery house for adult women. With the addition of Highland House, Howard County now offers low-end residential treatment for all population groups.

The opening of Highland House builds on the County’s Department of Community Resources and Services’ Office of Community Partnership’s CoC Program. CoC is designed to promote communitywide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness by:

  • Providing funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, and State and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities by homelessness; 
  • Promoting access to and effect utilization of mainstream programs by homeless individuals and families; and 
  • Optimizing self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness.

Tuerk House

Founded in 1970 and named after then Maryland State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Isadore Tuerk, Tuerk House is non-profit drug and alcohol treatment system serving nearly 300 patients a day, regardless of their ability to pay, through an innovative, integrated model of care that encompasses all aspects of recovery. To learn more about Tuerk House, visit www.tuerkhouse.org

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Safa Hira, Director of Communications
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