Our Founders
The Willing House was started by people who know recovery from the inside. We built the kind of home we would have wanted for ourselves.
Our Founders
The Willing House is a MASH-certified sober living community in Worcester, Massachusetts. We give men and women in recovery a safe, structured and affordable place to call home.
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Why We Started The Willing House
Shaun Wallace
Co-Founder & CEO
Shaun Wallace is a behavioral health entrepreneur, recovery advocate, and Central Massachusetts native who has dedicated much of his life to helping people affected by addiction find treatment, community, and a path forward.
For Shaun, that work is deeply personal.
Shaun has been in recovery since 2015. Before that, he experienced firsthand the cycle of addiction, treatment, and relapse, and how hard it can be to find an approach that truly works.
He has spoken publicly about going through numerous treatment programs before one finally worked, an experience that shaped the organization he helped build and the way he helps others today.
The Willing House is a sober living organization certified by the Massachusetts Alliance for Sober Housing (MASH).
Opened in 2018, it now operates several recovery residences for men and women in Worcester, Massachusetts.
The Willing House was created around a simple idea: people deserve a safe, supportive, and accountable place to live while they rebuild their lives in recovery.
Michael Hurley
Co-Founder & COO
Michael Hurley is a behavioral health entrepreneur, recovery advocate and person in long-term recovery.
Sober since 2013, he co-founded the Willing House with Shaun Wallace.
Michael grew up in foster care until the age of 19, moving through dozens of foster homes and group homes. His childhood was marked by instability, abandonment and abuse, and a constant feeling that he didn’t belong anywhere.
Drugs became the way out. For Michael, using wasn’t about getting high. It was a way to stop remembering, to numb the rejection, fear and loneliness that had followed him since he was a kid. For a while, drugs also gave him what he’d been looking for his whole life: a feeling of belonging.
By the end, Michael was homeless, hopeless and ready to die. After many attempts at recovery, he finally surrendered. He joined a 12-step fellowship and found a new way to live, and he’s stayed on that path ever since.
The Willing House opened in 2018 because Michael knows what it’s like to have nowhere to go. Each house gives residents a safe, sober home, real structure and accountability, and the kind of belonging drugs only promised.
Our Promise to Residents
Sober Living Built Around Your Recovery
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STRUCTURED SOBER LIVING IN WORCESTER
Our MASH-certified homes give residents the structure, accountability and peer support to put the tools they learned in treatment into practice. Every home is safe, substance-free and built around a community committed to long-term recovery.
- MASH-Certified Homes
- Sober Living for Men & Women
- Peer Support & Fellowship
- Safe, Substance-Free Environment
- Daily Breathalyzer Testing
- Random Drug Screening
- 12-Step & Recovery Meeting Involvement
- Life Skills & Independence Building