The more, the better.
That’s true about addiction treatment. The more support, education, and therapy a person receives while in treatment for addiction to drugs and alcohol, the more likely their recovery will be successful.
Sober living homes are a great illustration of this. They provide accountability, structure, and additional support to people in treatment for drug addiction, or in early recovery.
What is a Sober Living Home?
Basically, a sober living home is a communal living arrangement between people in recovery. These intentional communities have helped people for literal decades by providing a way to transition between the tight structure of inpatient recovery into the freedom of outpatient recovery.
Every resident in a sober home contributes to chores and other basic duties to keep the house clean and safe to live in. There are drug tests, often a curfew, and residents are expected to be back in the house after a specific time. These rules help residents rebuild and create new healthy ways to live, so they can reenter the normal world after treatment stronger than before.
But how to tell when it’s the right time to make the move? Here are four great reasons to move into a sober living home:
You’re Serious About Your Recovery
Sober living homes are alike in one very specific way: they take a zero-tolerance approach toward substance abuse. All of them ban addictive substances like alcohol, and more than a few take the extra step of banning anything with alcohol in it, including mouthwash.
Plus, most sober homes assign chores and maintain curfews. For many people (especially those new to sober living), this can feel like you’re being treated like a child. It isn’t.
Addiction robs many things from us. One of the most important things it takes is basic social skills. Chores, even something as simple as having to make your bed in the morning, reteach these social skills. In turn, these skills act as the foundation of a successful life – if we can manage something as simple as making our beds, we can handle something more complex, like a job interview.
Having to submit to these rules and regulations isn’t easy, especially after addiction when most of our activities rotated around obtaining and using drugs. But when you decide to move to a sober home, it’s something you’re required to do. Most sober homes will evict residents who don’t follow the rules.
This can sound harsh, but the rules are strict for everyone’s safety, security … and recovery. If you’re serious enough about your recovery to follow a sober home’s rules and live with them, sober living might be a great choice for you.
You Just Entered Outpatient Treatment
Everyone in recovery goes through certain stages as they advance through addiction treatment: detox, inpatient care, and outpatient care. When they reach the outpatient stages, they’re faced with some decisions to make.
Namely, where they’re going to live.
During detox and inpatient care, people spend their time in a tightly controlled, highly focused environment. Outpatient treatment opens up greater independence, including about where to live. Sober living provides a great middle ground between the structure of inpatient care and the flexibility of outpatient rehab.
Sober living homes are great safety nets to rehearse living in the real world. Since there are no addictive substances on premises, there’s no temptation to relapse or start using again. Instead, sober living frees a person to really focus on building their recovery.
You’ve Got One or Two Enablers in Your Life
Treatment for drug and alcohol addiction tends to increase a person’s clarity. After going to group therapy at an addiction center, they might realize they have friends and even family members who were enabling their substance abuse before they sought treatment.
Giving up old friendships and relationships is hard. But when those relationships damage our health and recovery, they have to go. Sober living helps a person remove themselves from harmful influences, such as friends who may not understand (or even oppose) what they’re trying to do.
Better yet, sober living allows for building new, positive relationships. Recovery can be an intense bonding experience, and it’s not uncommon to emerge from a stay in sober living with a long list of connections and friends who’ll be useful throughout life.
You’re Stressed Out About Real Life
Addiction does a lot of damage. Drug and alcohol abuse damage health, finances, and reputation. It’s not uncommon to enter drug rehab with several other problems in tow.
These problems can quickly seem overwhelming, even when making real progress on leaving addiction behind. A term in a sober living home can give someone time to think and plan about how to address the other issues in their life.
Sober living homes help residents find employment, go back into education, and even how to get their affairs back in order. House managers can hook residents up with job training and night courses; sober home roommates can be a judgment-free supplier of advice and life tips. There’s little judgment in a sober home because everybody’s in the same boat.
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Moving into a sober home during recovery is a great idea to make recovery permanent. Find your sober home now with SoberLivingNearYou.com!
