Teen Challenge for Women in Virginia: What Families Should Know

In 2013, Ashley and I took one of the biggest leaps of faith in our ministry journey: we launched a Teen Challenge for women in Virginia—right in the basement of our own house on the men's campus in the Shenandoah Valley.

If you're searching for Teen Challenge for women in Virginia, I want you to hear this from someone who actually lived it.

We were young parents at the time. Ashley was recently pregnant with our second daughter, Lydia (and she was still nursing when the first residents arrived). Our oldest was a toddler. I had come through Teen Challenge years earlier, but Ashley had no personal history with addiction—only a deep, uncompromising call to obedience.

The men's home was growing steadily, and we were getting constant calls from desperate families looking for help for women. That old line—"Never pray for something unless you're prepared to be the answer to that prayer"—stopped being a quote and became our reality.

We had prayed for help reaching women. Then God asked us to step up.

QUICK NAVIGATION

• Quick Answer (Teen Challenge for Women in Virginia)
• Our Story: Basement Beginnings
• Daily Life in the Women's Home
• Breakthrough Stories
• 7 Questions to Ask Any Women's Program
• Where to Get Help in Virginia Now
• FAQs

Living on the men's campus in an extra home, we converted the basement into the initial dorm space. It started small, but obedience opened doors. Before long we moved the women off-site as the number of residents grew.

Within 3–4 years, the program expanded from a basement to nearly 30 residents. We witnessed radical transformations through Jesus and community. But it came with immense challenges too—balancing discipleship with family life, emotional burnout, and unrelenting operational pressure.

We stepped away in 2019. The women's home closed shortly after. Today, as directors of Shenandoah Valley Adult & Teen Challenge (SVATC), we've repositioned toward coaching and referrals while rebuilding funding. But those years leading the women's home still shape how we see recovery, ministry, and the cost of calling.

If you're searching for "Teen Challenge for women" in Virginia—or you're a parent looking for hope—this is our story. Miracles, mess, and redemption.

And honestly? We're writing this because the internet is full of generic descriptions of programs. What's rare is a real, firsthand story from people who lived it—day and night, in the same house, while raising kids—watching women rebuild from the inside out.

Quick Answer: Teen Challenge for Women in Virginia

If you're searching "Teen Challenge for women" in Virginia, here's the honest answer: we helped lead a women's recovery home for several years, and we saw real transformation happen through Christ-centered discipleship, structure, and community—not overnight, but over time.

We also learned the hard realities families don't always see: trauma, motherhood pain, relapses, burnout, and the need for stable support systems behind the scenes. Because Adult & Teen Challenge programs are locally governed, program details can vary by center.

This post gives you our firsthand story, what daily life actually looked like, and where we confidently recommend women can find help in Virginia today.

Adult & Teen Challenge programs vary by location—some centers offer a mother-child component while others do not—so the best next step is to ask the specific program what they allow, how long the program runs, what detox requirements they have, and what daily life looks like in the home.

Read Next: Teen Challenge Virginia

Cost Details: Teen Challenge Cost

Need help choosing? Contact SVTC

The Roots of Our Call: From Personal Recovery to Family Ministry

To understand how we ended up leading a women's home, you have to go back further.

My story started with addiction. Teen Challenge is where God met me, broke chains, and set me on a path of freedom. Graduating changed everything. I knew I wanted to spend my life helping others find that same hope—not as a theory, but as something real. (I got clean, but that wasn't the hard part)

Ashley's story looked different. Raised in West Virginia, she experienced a dramatic salvation as a teenager. In 9th or 10th grade, she felt the Holy Spirit's pull in a service. Tears flowing, she committed at the altar: "Whatever it takes, God—I'm in." That moment defined her. It led her into deeper discipleship and training, and it formed the kind of faith that says yes before it sees the whole plan.

We met, married in 2008, and jumped into ministry. We pastored, attempted a church plant, and learned hard lessons about God's timing and our own limits.

By 2013, the calls for women were constant. Families were desperate—moms, daughters, wives—women whose addiction was tied to trauma, shame, fear, and survival. We prayed for God to raise up help… and then it hit us:

Maybe we were the answer to our own prayer.

We had an extra house on the men's campus. The basement had space. We didn't have extra staff or some polished funding plan.

We had obedience.

So we said yes.

And the women's program was born.

Launching in Chaos: Basement Beginnings and Rapid Growth

Starting in our basement meant there was no clean separation between family and ministry. Kids upstairs, residents downstairs—sounds, emotions, everything blended.

Ashley was pregnant, then nursing while leading. Our toddler navigated it all. Privacy was basically nonexistent. But God sustained us in ways we didn't understand until later.

The first women arrived hesitant and broken. We started with the fundamentals: daily devotions, Scripture, structure, accountability, and consistent routines that forced life out of survival mode.

We focused heavily on identity—helping women stop living as the label they'd been called, and start learning who God says they are.

Community formed quickly. It always does when people are desperate enough to stop pretending.

Growth exploded. Within months the basement overflowed. We moved the women off-site, and within 3–4 years we were close to 30 residents. Word spread the old-fashioned way: families saw change and told other families.

It was miraculous.

And it stretched us thin.

Because every added resident wasn't just another bed—she was another story, another crisis, another set of wounds, another chance for transformation… and another demand on staff, money, and emotional bandwidth.

Daily Life at the Teen Challenge Women's Home

A typical day started early with devotions—worship, Scripture, prayer. Breakfast. Chores. That might sound basic, but those rhythms matter when someone's life has been dominated by chaos.

Bible classes covered identity in Christ, forgiveness, renewing the mind, and practical discipleship. Afternoons often included work responsibilities, mentoring, and time for processing. Evenings brought group sharing, prayer, and community life.

A typical rhythm looked like:

• Morning devotions (worship, Scripture, prayer)
• Breakfast + responsibilities (chores/life skills)
• Bible classes (identity, renewal, forgiveness)
• Mentoring + practical work rhythm
• Group accountability + community living
• Evening sharing + prayer

Community was the glue.

Women rallied around each other's struggles. If someone was missing her kids, the group would pray through tears until the next phone call. If someone was tempted to isolate, we learned to surround her before the spiral became a relapse.

Grief hit hard. One resident learned of a friend's death. Staff took shifts—day processing, night comforting. No drugs to numb—just Jesus and sisters in Christ.

Trauma was common. Abuse, abandonment, eating disorders, emotional dependency—the roots ran deep. Ashley led workbook sessions and mind-renewal work because so much of recovery is learning to recognize lies and replace them with truth. Romans 12:2 wasn't a nice verse on a wall. It was a daily process.

Even the rural Shenandoah Valley helped. For many women, getting away from triggers and chaos—surrounded by mountains and space—created breathing room to think clearly again.

Family Weekends: Small Windows of Restoration

Family weekends were pivotal. Monthly celebrations, classes, worship services, and time together built hope. They gave families proof that change was happening. They also gave residents a new picture of what a restored life could look like.

They also revealed how deep the pain ran—especially for mothers.

Many women were separated from their children. Some had custody battles. Some were rebuilding trust from years of broken promises. Family weekends brought both joy and ache. But they also created structure for rebuilding relationships—healthy contact, healthy expectations, and spiritual alignment.

Breakthrough Stories: What Only Jesus Can Do

Transformations in a women's home rarely come with a single cinematic moment. Most of the time, they come in layers—truth replacing lies, community replacing isolation, obedience replacing impulse, and time doing what time does when Jesus is at the center.

We watched women walk in with a lifetime of labels—addict, failure, unlovable, too far gone—and slowly begin to speak a different language: daughter, forgiven, restored, called, new. Not because someone hyped them up, but because they stayed under discipleship long enough for Scripture, structure, and community to reshape what they believed about God and about themselves.

Below are three stories that capture different kinds of breakthroughs we saw—one marked by grief, one marked by long-term rebuilding, and one marked by a steady path into purpose.

Savannah

Savannah didn't walk in with a big speech or a clear plan. She entered uncertain—hopeful, but not fully convinced life could really change long-term. But something began to shift as she stayed under truth and structure long enough for her mindset to catch up with what God was doing in her heart.

She pursued education with quiet determination: an Associate's degree in Criminal Justice, then a Bachelor's in Interdisciplinary Studies (2021), and eventually a Master's in Special Education. Like a lot of graduates, she still had to walk through the "real world" grind—she took a mentally draining call center job that paid the bills but wore her down.

And that's where clarity came. God used that season to narrow her focus and confirm her calling when she stepped into a high school special needs classroom. Today she's an elementary Special Education Teacher—joyful, steady, and genuinely fulfilled—living out a purpose that fits who God made her to be. In her words: "None of this would be possible without God's guiding hand. I'm daily reminded of His grace."

Brittany

Brittany came in battling heavy drugs and alcohol, and in her mind this was a quick stop—thirty days to get people off her back, catch her breath, and figure out what came next. But God had something deeper planned.

What started as "I'll try this for a month" turned into a full-life rebuild. She didn't just complete the program—she became the kind of steady presence other women could lean on. Over time she stepped into leadership and served as Education Coordinator for nearly seven years, helping create structure and consistency for women who had lived in chaos for a long time.

Along the way, she earned a Middle School Education degree, built a healthy life, and watched God restore what addiction had tried to steal. She met her husband, became a stepmom to his daughters, and later welcomed a baby boy. Now, approaching a decade sober, she's living what once felt impossible: wife, mother, and on track to be a certified teacher. As she put it, "It's surreal looking back—immense gratitude for God's joy in the journey."

The Quiet Breakthroughs Families Don't See

A lot of the most important breakthroughs weren't dramatic moments. They were slow, unglamorous wins—the kind you only notice if you're living close enough to someone's life to see the pattern change.

It was the day a woman finally told the truth without minimizing. The day she stopped blaming everyone around her and started owning what she could change. The day she felt the pull to isolate, but chose community instead. The day she sat with grief and didn't run. The day she made a hard phone call and spoke with hope instead of manipulation, shame, or fear.

Those are the moments that don't look "viral," but they're the moments that actually hold a life together when the structure of the program is gone.

We watched women learn how to tell the truth without fear. We watched relationships rebuild one honest phone call at a time.

We watched shame lose its grip as identity became rooted in Christ. We watched women learn to sit with emotions instead of running from them, follow through on responsibility, work with consistency, and re-enter church life after years of hiding.

That's the Jesus factor: not just behavior change—heart change.

How to Choose the Right Teen Challenge for Women Program: 7 Questions to Ask

When families call us, the biggest problem isn't lack of options—it's lack of clarity. Under stress, everything starts to sound the same. These seven questions force programs to get specific so you can make a wise decision with confidence.

1. Is this a women-only program designed for women's needs?

Women's recovery often intersects with trauma, relationships, safety, shame, and motherhood in ways a generic co-ed program may not be equipped to address. Ask how the program is specifically designed for women: staffing, discipleship approach, mentoring, boundaries, and how they handle trauma-related patterns. The goal isn't just a women-only building—it's women-specific structure, care, and accountability.

2. Do they allow mothers with children—and how does that work?

Some programs allow children to attend with their mothers; others do not—so don't assume. Ask directly about age limits, housing setup, childcare/schooling, daily schedule, and how they support parenting while in the program. One Virginia option families often look into is Beauty for Ashes in Fredericksburg.

3. How do they handle detox and medical needs?

Most discipleship-based residential programs are not medical detox facilities. Ask what their admission requirements are and whether detox must be completed before arrival. Also ask what their plan is if medical or psychiatric needs arise during the program.

4. What's the program length and what if someone leaves early?

Program length varies by location, and long-term change typically takes months—not weeks. Ask what "completion" looks like and how progress is measured. For context on Teen Challenge cost and what's typically included, I've broken that down separately.

5. What does a typical week look like?

Ask for a real schedule. A healthy program should be structured and consistent: daily spiritual formation (Bible study/chapel), responsibilities, community living, mentoring, and accountability.

6. How do they involve family and handle boundaries?

Ask how family contact works early on and how boundaries are coached so support doesn't become enabling.

7. What does aftercare look like after graduation?

Graduation isn't the finish line—it's the handoff to real life. Ask what support exists after the program. For more on what that transition actually looks like, read Life After Rehab: What Happens When Treatment Ends.

If you're overwhelmed, you're not alone. Our SVATC team is happy to help you think through next steps and provide referrals for men or women—no pressure, just clarity.

Get Referral Help from SVATC

The Hard Realities: The Cost of Obedience

There's a side of ministry most people never see from the outside. And if we're going to tell the story honestly, we can't skip it.

Relapse is real. And it's heartbreaking. We watched women go from altar tears to anger in the same week. We watched the pull of old relationships, old coping patterns, and old lies come back loud when pressure hit. There were late-night crises, hard conversations, safety concerns, and moments where leadership meant making a call that no one wanted to make.

The emotional toll was heavy: conflict between residents, staff fatigue, the repeated cycle of hope and disappointment, and the weight of carrying other people's pain while trying to stay spiritually steady ourselves.

Family sacrifice was real too. When you lead a home, you don't just "go to work." Your family lives inside the ministry. Our kids heard things they shouldn't have had to hear. Privacy was thin. Ashley carried an enormous load—pregnancy, nursing, motherhood, and leadership—while still trying to be present and grounded at home.

And then there was funding.

Funding wasn't a crisis because people didn't care. People cared deeply. We were grateful for in-kind gifts, supplies, and support. Residential discipleship is expensive to do well: staffing, utilities, and day-to-day operations require consistent monthly support, not just occasional generosity.

Over time, we learned an important lesson: a strong program needs two kinds of leadership running together—shepherding people and building sustainable support systems. We never wanted to lower the standard of care or compromise discipleship just to survive. We didn't want to operate in constant panic mode where urgency replaces wisdom and quality suffers. That conviction shaped how we led then, and it shapes how we rebuild now.

Where Things Stand Now: Virginia, SVATC, and the Road Ahead

When we stepped away in 2019, it felt confusing in the moment. Looking back, it was merciful. Pastoring refreshed us, strengthened our family, and gave us skills we still use today.

When we returned to Shenandoah Valley Teen Challenge in this post-COVID landscape as my father Pastor John was retiring, the reality was different than it was a decade ago. Costs are higher, donor patterns have changed, and "residential" is harder to sustain without a stable base of recurring support.

So we've repositioned in a way that lets us help families immediately while we rebuild:

• Coaching and mentorship for individuals who need discipleship and accountability right now
• Content and resources (podcast, articles, tools) that reach people beyond our zip code (Rebuilding Life After Addiction)
• Referrals—helping families navigate options wisely instead of guessing under stress

Our long-term vision is still clear: residential discipleship done with excellence, with sustainable funding in place before any full relaunch. We want stability before expansion—so we never have to choose between caring for people and keeping the lights on.

If You're Searching for Hope, Here's What to Do Next

If you're reading this because you're trying to help a daughter, wife, sister, or friend, here's what we want you to know:

You're not crazy for feeling overwhelmed. And you're not wrong for wanting something deeper than "just stop."

We've watched women rebuild. We've watched families reunite. We've watched shame break. We've also watched the cost of calling.

And we still believe it's worth it—because Jesus is worth it.

If you want to take a next step:

• If you're looking for a trusted women's option in Virginia, consider Beauty for Ashes in Fredericksburg
• If you need help navigating options, referrals, or next steps, reach out to us through SVTC and we'll help you move forward with clarity
• If you believe in what we're rebuilding—coaching now and future residential vision when funding is stable—you can partner with SVATC through support and giving

— Justin & Ashley Franich

FAQs for Families Searching "Teen Challenge for Women" in Virginia

Can moms bring their kids? It depends on the location. Some programs allow children to attend with their mothers, and others do not—so ask the specific center what they allow and how it works. If you're looking for a mother-child option in Virginia, Beauty for Ashes in Fredericksburg is one program families often explore.

What about family involvement? In our women's home, family weekends were pivotal—structured times for reconnection, worship, teaching, and rebuilding trust. Ask how a program involves family, what contact looks like early on, and how they coach boundaries so support doesn't become enabling.

What's a typical day like? Expect structure at a Teen Challenge women's home: devotions, Bible teaching, responsibilities, community living, mentoring, and accountability. Some locations also offer counseling services or clinical partnerships, but that varies by center. The key is consistency—recovery thrives in healthy rhythm.

How is detox/medical handled? Most discipleship-based residential programs are not medical detox facilities. Many programs require detox—often medically supervised—before admission. Ask what they require prior to arrival, and what their plan is if medical or psychiatric needs arise during the program.

What's the cost? Costs vary by location. Many programs operate as nonprofits supported by donations plus participant fees. Ask what the weekly/monthly costs are, what's included, and whether they offer any scholarship options. More details: Teen Challenge Cost

How long is the program? Program length varies by center. Many long-term discipleship models run in the 12–18 month range, though some locations may list shorter timelines such as 6–12 months. Ask what "completion" looks like and how they measure progress.

What if relapse happens? Relapse doesn't mean hopelessness—but it does mean the approach needs to be honest and structured. Look for grace with accountability: clear expectations, real discipleship, and healthy community—not shame, and not enabling.