What It Is Like Living in a Sober House: A Complete Guide

Sober-living homes provide a strong support network and community to help you safely navigate the tough spots and triggers you may encounter. For individuals struggling with addiction to alcohol and drugs, Harris House helps people achieve sobriety and become healthy and productive individuals. Since our founding in 1961, Harris House has grown to become a top-rated non-profit treatment center.

In recognizing this truth, you’ll also become more aware of the various ways you can help and support your loved one in recovery. Every sober living home will have different rules regarding visitors. For example, at Eudaimonia, all visitors must be approved in advance by a house manager before they are permitted to enter their loved one’s sober living home.

A Place to Live in a Sober Environment

During the month before entering the SLH only 11% indicated they had engaged in work during the past 30 days. While the average number of days worked over the past 30 days at the 6-month time point was low (6.7 days), it was nonetheless higher than the month before entering sober house the SLH (1.4). Join our sober living community or refer a client, family member, or friend. Submit an application online and receive a call back within 24 hours. While you may want to live on your own right away, you might not be ready to manage total freedom at first.

Nearly all the participants were male (94%) due to the closing of the only women’s house shortly after the study began. The racial distribution was largely African American (59%) followed by Caucasian (31%), and the mean age was 42.6 (9.3) years. This measure was used to assess past year alcohol and drug dependence.

Why Might a Longer Stay Be Beneficial?

Clients are required to attend the Options program 1.5 hours per day three times per week. In addition, clients are required to attend 2 outside 12-step meetings per week. Clients are required to attend the Options Outpatient program 3 days a week and attend daily 12-step meetings at the program. The most important thing I can do in my life is remain clean and sober to be a testament that recovery is possible.

While all ages are welcome, college students who struggle with addiction may find it extremely helpful to avoid relapsing during one’s college experience. The need for more sober living homes, treatment facilities and IOPs is real and will be real for some time. As a whole, these rules help in teaching accountability AND responsibility to people suffering from drug and alcohol addiction after they have not lived in a structured environment. Rules reinforce that to be productive members of society, we all need to be responsible for our actions and behavior. Residents of sober living homes learn to reconnect with society while living among peers experiencing similar situations.

What to Expect in a Sober Living Home for Young Adults

It would have required
sober houses to have a zero-tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol and required
the residents to participate actively in recovery activities. DMHAS certifies sober houses to participate in its Access to
Recovery (ATR) and General Assistance Support Recovery (GA-RSP) programs. To be
certified, a house must agree to meet certain minimum standards and maintain minimum
house rules. Houses that receive rent reimbursement from DMHAS must meet
additional standards. DMHAS certification also requires sober house residents
to agree to follow minimum house rules. As explained in our definition of sober living homes, the goal of sober housing is to give people in recovery a safe and supportive place to heal, away from outside pressures.

• Join our newsletter to be part of a community of people with shared experiences.
• Furthermore, unstable housing could promote stress and feelings of isolation.
• Being in a close relationship with someone who is actively using alcohol or other substances can be very challenging.
• To maximize generalization of results we employed few exclusion criteria.
• As a whole, these rules help in teaching accountability AND responsibility to people suffering from drug and alcohol addiction after they have not lived in a structured environment.
• Residents in a sober living house should understand and agree to all house rules when they move in.

Bedside Stories highlights captivating personal stories that take place behind the scenes in health care. Experiencing feelings of fear, worry and anger are understandable and normal for someone on the sidelines trying to support a loved one. As with any other chronic illness, the more informed you are the better you will be able to support them. You can ask questions about our program, the admissions process, and more. Joseph Gilmore has been in the addiction industry for three years with experience working for facilities all across the country.

Something important to note is that sober living houses are not the same as halfway houses. While they are both residences designed to support folks in maintaining sobriety and transitioning back into society, there are some key differences. These are residential facilities that provide structure and support for those healing from addiction. They are designed to be a transitional space from residential treatment to mainstream society. What the two have in common is that residents must maintain sobriety.

But saying things like, “If you loved me, you’d quit,” is damaging behavior that almost never works. ” Remind them often that you are willing to be their recovery support. Remind them that they’re valued, they can do this, and they’re not alone.