Once a person completes their treatment program, they are often only part of the way to going back to a normal life. Addiction damages all parts of a person’s life, and to truly rebuild takes time and a safe place to live while the person works on the parts of their life that addiction destroyed. Recovering from addiction is a long and arduous process, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t resources to help along the way. Many people think addiction can be solved simply by going to a treatment facility and completing the program.

The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved or otherwise endorsed by our advertisers. Sunnyside provides a simple but structured approach to help you drink more mindfully. Discover more energy, restful sleep, and improved wellness with a plan designed to fit your life. Substance abuse significantly impacts users, their families, their community, and society as a whole.

Level III: Supervised

If a resident regresses or relapses, they may be required to step back into restrictions. Self-sufficiency phases give residents more accountability before their transition to independent living. They communicate their activities with SLH staff, but ultimately make decisions independently.

• Today, sober houses are “free-standing,” independently owned and operated.
• In addition to being able to recognize them, it’s important to know when to seek help.
• Specifically, it helps residents resolve their mixed feelings (i.e., ambivalence) about living in the SLH and engaging in other community based services.
• Having sober house rules adds needed structure, and reduces exposure to negative influences and triggers.
• If these emotions become excessive, they can hold you back from recovery.

Therefore, when you stop placing such toxic substances in your body or even relieve your body of the toxic substances that it already has within it through detox, your immune system receives a boost. Sobriety is a general term for staying away from mood and mind-altering substances. For many people with a substance use disorder, it’s simply a matter of never having learned the appropriate way to manage anger. Talk to your therapist, other healthcare provider, or sponsor about how to deal with your anger in ways that won’t cause you to harm yourself or others or turn to alcohol or drugs.

Access to Supportive Services:

One place to start looking to find a sober living home or facility is a Google search for something such as “sober living houses near me” or “sober house in” followed by your city and state. You can also consider asking peers at 12-step meetings or work with your treatment provider to see if he or she can help get you into a sober living facility. They are focused on helping residents re-enter common society after spending time in prison.

While recovery is possible, it often takes much more than just a treatment program. For that reason, sober living homes are an important next step once a person has completed their initial treatment. The benefits of sober living homes are numerous, from providing a secure environment during the early stages of recovery to setting up healthy habits that will support lifelong sobriety.

Identify Your Triggers

The more strategies you learn to identify triggers, cope with stress, and manage your new sober life, the easier it is to prevent relapse. It may help to pick a quit date, or a day when you choose to discontinue use of alcohol or drugs. It’s also helpful to change your environment—for instance, avoid going to bars. These measures were taken how does sober living work from Gerstein et al. (1994) and labeled Peak Density and 6-month abstinence. Peak Density is the number of days of any substance use (i.e., any alcohol or drug) during the month of highest use over the past 6 months (coded 0-31). Six-month abstinence was a dichotomous yes/no regarding any use of alcohol of drugs over the past 6 months.

• But you may not have expected that you’d need an emergency root canal on the same day as your job interview on the same day you realized you forgot to pay your car insurance.
• The second phase allows for more personal autonomy and increased responsibility for one’s recovery.
• When she’s not researching sustainable alternatives to her everyday products, Lauren is likely attempting to make a dent in her “TBR” book pile.
• Additionally, sober living house rules may include a curfew, helping around the house, and attending group meetings.

Or maybe you’re going to start an outpatient program, but living at home isn’t a sober, supportive environment for you. Interviews will elicit their knowledge about addiction, recovery, and community based recovery houses such as SLHs. We hypothesize that barriers to expansion of SLHs might vary by stakeholder groups. Drug and alcohol administrators and operators of houses might therefore need different strategies to address the concerns of different stakeholders. CSLT is located in Sacramento County California and consists of 16 houses with a 136 bed capacity. Phase I lasts 30 to 90 days and is designed to provide some limits and structure for new residents.