The hope is that with a period of extra support at a substance abuse halfway house or other sober living home, residents will learn the skills to be self-sufficient and maintain sobriety on their own. Most of the rent for the Options SLHs was paid by General Assistance or Social Security Income, so a variety of low income residents could be accommodated. While the level of support is less intensive (and less expensive) than that offered in residential treatment, it is more intensive than the relative autonomy found in freestanding SLHs. Some residents probably benefit from the mandate that they attend outpatient treatment during the day and comply with a curfew in the evening. For some individuals, the limited structure offered by freestanding SLHs could invite association with substance using friends and family and thus precipitate relapse. This could be particularly problematic in poor communities where residents have easy access to substances and people who use them.

• You’re still in charge of what you do, but the burden to do so isn’t as high as it would be without support from a group setting.
• This might include eating healthy, exercising regularly, keeping a clean home, and maintaining good personal hygiene.
• Often, addiction treatment conquers the initial addiction, but without sober living to transition back into life, bad habits and routines too easily reemerge.
• This will help you recover more quickly and won’t put you in close proximity to potential relapses.

SLH rules prevent engaging or substituting addictions, and help build healthy life habits. The rules also protect the recovery of other residents in the home. Residents must continue to follow the rules through their entire stay. As a next step in our research on SLHs we plan to assess how they are viewed by various stakeholder groups in the community, including house managers, neighbors, treatment professionals, and local government officials. Interviews will elicit their knowledge about addiction, recovery, and community based recovery houses such as SLHs. Their perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of SLHs in their communities should provide data that can be used to modify houses to improve acceptance and expand to serve more drug and alcohol dependent persons.

Primary Outcomes

Living in a sober house or residential treatment can also help reduce loneliness, which is an inherent part of the addiction cycle. You may have cut ties with the good people in your life, or withdrew from family members in fear of judgement and rejection. You will not be alone – there will be people literally living beside you, with very parallel experiences. Over time, these people will start to feel more like your family, or your community, with everyone supporting and understanding one another. These are the relationships you will have for life, the people you can call on when things get tough, the people that will hold you accountable for your sobriety time and time again. Sober living houses give recovering individuals consistent and comfortable housing away from home while they learn how to cope with daily life stressors without drugs or alcohol.

Houses are usually located in quiet, peaceful neighborhoods, where members can destress and focus on their growth and recovery journeys. A sober living home is an excellent choice for a patient as they who is transitioning from a more intensive and/or structured program and does not have a stable or supportive environment to go into afterward. Such a program is also ideal for those clients that need continued support before they can resume their lives fully integrated into their communities. sober house While there isn’t an exact length of time that everyone should stay in one of these programs, you definitely shouldn’t leave before you’re ready. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 90 days of treatment is a fair general starting point for people beginning a recovery journey, regardless of treatment type. However, this is dependent on the type of substance use disorder at hand, and NIDA also recommends longer treatment for seeing lasting positive results.

What Is a Sober Living House?

An out-of-state sober living program can help residents refresh their priorities to focus on sobriety. Sober living programs provide transitional homes for guided independent living. But, high-quality SLHs are still supervised, so you’ll have to follow the house’s basic rules. Sober Living home residents are not required to have finished or be active in formal rehabilitation.