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Freestanding SLH’s offer a limited amount of structure and no formal treatment services. Thus, they are optimal for residents who are capable of handling a fair amount of autonomy and who can take personal responsibility for their recovery. Expansion of freestanding SLHs in communities might therefore ease the burden on overwhelmed treatment systems.
Sober living homes offer an in-between recovery option that allows you to reinforce the lessons learned in rehab. To keep residents safe, all successful sober homes have rules and regulations that you’re required to follow. While rules may vary, we’re going to discuss the general guidelines most homes require. To succeed in your recovery, it’s important that you abide by them. Research on sober living houses also states that residents experience a higher possibility of securing employment and a lower likelihood of getting arrested.
Recovery Philosophy in Sober Living Houses
Homeless people with substance use disorders have higher risks, exacerbated further if there are criminal justice issues. Recovery housing can provide a safe environment, support for abstinence and link people into education and employment opportunities. Sober living homes require residents to give back to the community of the house in some way, completing household chores, planning house meetings or preparing meals. Most sober living homes offer a three-month stay, while others are shorter or longer, depending on progress in recovery. Think of sober living as your support net as you practice new skills, gain new insight and shape your new life in recovery with other people who are possibly facing the same challenges.
At the Sober Living, they may have a later curfew or no curfew and the other rules will be less intensive. The cost of the Sober Living is typically less then the Recovery Residence. The Sober Living may or may not have a house manager or staff monitoring the home and ensuring sobriety of the residents. The structure of most Recovery Residence is that there is a live-in House Manager.
Sober Living
The instrument allows participants to identify up to 12 important people in his or her network whom they have had contact with in the past six months. The drinking status of the social network was calculated by multiplying the amount of contact by the drinking pattern of each network member, averaged across the network. The same method is applied to obtain the drug status of the network member; the amount of contact is multiplied by the pattern of drug use and averaged across network members. Central to recovery in SLHs is involvement in 12-step mutual help groups (Polcin & Henderson, 2008). However, some houses will allow other types of activities that can substitute for 12 step groups, provided they constitute a strategy for maintaining ongoing abstinence.
A sober living house differs from a halfway house in that the individuals who reside in these facilities mostly come directly from inpatient substance use treatment programs. Generally, when a person’s home life environment is not conducive to continued recovery, a sober living home is the best option. Developing a social network that supports ongoing sobriety is also an important component of the recovery model used in SLHs.
Choosing Between Rehab, Sober Living, and Halfway Houses
First, we could not directly compare which type of SLH was most effective because there were demographic and other individual characteristics that differed between the two types of houses. Second, individuals self selected themselves into the houses and a priori characteristics of these individuals may have at least in part accounted for the longitudinal improvements. Although self selection can be viewed as a weakness of the research designs, it can also be conceived as a strength, especially for studying residential recovery programs. Our study design had characteristics that DeLeon, Inciardi and Martin (1995) suggested were critical to studies of residential recovery programs. They argued that self selection of participants to the interventions being studies was an advantage because it mirrored the way individuals typically choose to enter treatment.
Sober living homes and halfway houses are frequently confused and for good reason. There is a lot of overlap in the function of these homes, as the main goal of both is to keep residents abstinent from drugs and alcohol. While these facilities maintain much in common, there are key differences in the formation, funding, regulations and logistical aspects of sober living vs. halfway houses. The cost varies by the type of sober-living environment and length of stay. Some sober-living homes have a base rate with additional costs for added services. When you’re looking for a sober recovery home, be sure to ask what’s included in the monthly rate and what is extra.
What Did We Learn from Our Study on Sober Living Houses and Where Do We Go from Here?
While sober living houses have research touting their efficacy, it is also important to remember that they are still environments where you are living with others and the focus is on staying sober. Halfway houses, also known as sober re-entry programs, tend to be more structured. Sometimes they are designed specifically for formerly incarcerated folks. Other times, they function as a more intensive residential facility, meaning that there is consistent recovery programming, requirements, and staff present in the house. Over the years, sober living houses have evolved to meet the needs of those in recovery.
- Learning everything you can about different parts of the process can help you feel more prepared to prioritize your wellbeing and seek treatment.
- Finally, a transitional housing center with a sobriety requirement could be of great help if you’re struggling with housing insecurity, mainly due to addiction struggles.
- Rehab centers offer intensive recovery programs that help residents overcome addictions by following strict rules and regulations.
The phrase “drug rehab” is a catch-all term for the variety of services available for treating substance use disorders, including alcohol and drug addiction. However, within the scope of rehab, there is a whole range of programs that offer varying levels of care. Learning everything you can about different parts of the process can help you feel more prepared to prioritize your wellbeing and seek treatment. That’s why we’re here to give you some important information about one of your options. So, if you’ve ever wondered what a substance abuse halfway house was, or asked yourself, “How do sober living homes work?
Instead, they required applicants to begin their sobriety before approaching the sober house. Recovery programs filled the gap by initiating abstinence and including detoxification. SLHs have their origins in the state of California 5 Tips to Consider When Choosing a Sober Living House and most continue to be located there (Polcin & Henderson, 2008). It is difficult to ascertain the exact number because they are not formal treatment programs and are therefore outside the purview of state licensing agencies.
