Drug and alcohol rehab center in South Walton to expand

Path of Grace, a local drug and alcohol rehabilitation program for women, will soon take on an expansion project on more than 10 acres in Santa Rosa Beach.

SANTA ROSA BEACH — A local organization is gearing up to expand its mission of helping addicted women find a path toward grace.

In January, Path of Grace, a local drug and alcohol rehabilitation program for women, will begin a roughly $2 million development on more than 10 acres in Santa Rosa Beach.

The expansion project will include a new Path of Grace Recovery Home, which will house roughly 20 rehabilitating women and more than 15 transitional homes for graduates wanting to continue living in the community.

“Our main goal is to see women set free from addiction through Jesus Christ and to see families restored,” Eddie Mansfield, executive director of the group, wrote in an email. “Path of Grace gives women a fresh start at life.”

Mansfield added that the organization purchased the property in 2017. For the past seven months, officials have been working with the county to have the area rezoned from residential to institutional. The switch was approved during a commission meeting on Dec. 17.

The program’s main campus currently sits on East Hewett Road in Santa Rosa Beach and houses 21 women. There are also two remote locations in gated communities in Santa Rosa and Miramar beaches.

“Between those two (additional) homes, we have 13 women,” said Mansfield, who added that they will move to the new location once it’s complete. “Also, we’ll be out of the neighborhoods, which I think will be a good thing because it’ll have more of a Path of Grace Campus feel.”

Looking ahead, he expected the one to two-year recovery program to continue growing, helping more struggling women find sobriety.

“It will be a much larger campus, and it will end up being the future (of Path of Grace),” Mansfield said.