About Us

Our story

From Houghton House’s early beginnings, we’ve understood that addiction is a disease, and that it very seldom occurs without a co-occurring mental health condition, which is known as a “dual diagnosis”.

While this is commonly accepted knowledge in addiction treatment today, it was something of a fringe theory back when we first started out in 1995. But having experienced recovery first-hand, we have always strongly believed in the power of combining clinical treatment with counseling and support from people experienced in recovery.

Having seen first-hand how effectively facilities in the UK used this approach, which is known as Minnesota Model, we were frustrated by the lack of appropriate treatment available in South Africa. It felt like we were in on a secret that everyone should know, a secret that could help a lot of people as it had helped us.

We wanted to help as many addicts as possible, and we were on a mission to “spread the gospel” and change the way substance use disorder was understood and treated — and so we started Houghton House.

The early days

Initially, Houghton House was located in the illustrious suburb of Houghton, where it became known as “the house in Houghton”, and later, “The Houghton House”.

The name stuck, so we decided to remain “Houghton House” even after we moved to our current location in 2009. As Houghton House grew, our need for space grew. We had realised that, to be able to support addicts in their recovery after they completed treatment, we needed to establish a halfway house, and the neighbourhood we were in no longer met our needs.

At the time, Dan ran a different addiction treatment centre called “The Gap” with two other partners. As it happened, The Gap’s facility stood on a large property in Randburg perfectly suited to Houghton House’s needs.

Quite fortuitously, around the same time Houghton House was searching for a new home, one of Dan’s business partners was planning to move to America.

Joining forces for good

It seemed as if the stars had aligned; Alex and Dan had worked together before and had a great deal of mutual respect. Dan had previously run a family support group at Houghton House and also launched Houghton’s intensive outpatient programme several years before leaving to start his own facility.

And so, when opportunity came knocking, Alex and Dan decided to join forces. Together, they bought out Dan’s former partners, and Alex and his team moved to the property in Randburg. And so, the Houghton House we know and love today was born.

In the years since, Houghton has grown considerably and undergone several evolutions — the most notable of which was receiving official recognition as a private psychiatric hospital from the Department of Health in 2023.

Recognition as a psychiatric hospital

Houghton House’s designation as a fully licensed psychiatric hospital finally allowed us to complete our evolution from being a rehab to being a dual diagnosis unit.

As a dual-licensed facility, we can effectively treat the psychiatric conditions that drive addictive behaviours like substance abuse and even gambling

While we’d always taken a holistic approach to treating substance abuse — and had for many years employed medical professionals in our facility — official licensure allowed us to claim the costs of dual diagnosis treatment from medical aid schemes, relieving the financial pressures treatment placed on our patients.

Houghton House today

Today, Houghton House is conveniently located in the central Johannesburg suburb of Ferndale, where we have four treatment facilities:

• A primary care facility, a 30-bed psychiatric hospital
• A secondary care facility, a 24-bed addiction “step-down facility”
• A 26-bed tertiary care facility, which is named York House
• An outpatient treatment centre for aftercare and outpatient counselling

In addition to our treatment facilities, we’re particularly proud to be able to offer continued recovery support through several communal halfway houses or sober living homes.