Our model has 20 years of success behind it.

Magdalene House Austin is modeled after Thistle Farms and Magdalene Nashville, founded by Becca Stevens in 1997. Their social enterprise, Thistle Farms, is now the largest survivor-run small business in the United States, and their model has spread to over 30 communities across the country. In twenty years of operations in Nashville, Thistle Farms has found that every single woman who enters their program has a story that begins with rape – the average age of the first assault is between 7-11. The average age these women began living on the streets is between 14-16. Many have spent decades battling repeated rapes, violence, other trauma, and drug addiction.

The Magdalene Nashville residential community recovery program has achieved stunning results. In its twenty years of operation, 84% of the women who enter the program graduate clean and sober two years later. Two-thirds have maintained long-term sobriety and economic self-sufficiency living independently after graduation.