For people not ready to face the world head-on, for people without a sober place to go, and for people still struggling with addiction and a corresponding mental illness, coming out of drug or alcohol rehab and into a sober living environment can be a great way to increase the odds of long term sobriety and success.
What is sober living housing?
Sober living housing (halfway housing) is simply a residency, that may or may not offer some degree of addictions therapy, and which provides low cost accommodation to addicts in recovery in return for an agreement to accept a certain and strict code of conduct.
Residents transitioning through a sober living house must generally gain employment, may not bring drugs or alcohol in to the house, may not appear intoxicated inside the residence, and must abide by behavioral rules such as curfews and work duties. Residents are free to stay for as long as they like, and there is rarely a pre set period of residency, but most recovering addicts stay from 1-6 months.
The benefits of sober living housing
There are a number of benefits to residency in a sober living house, and one of the most obvious is simply that living in a sober house reduces the temptations of independent living, and increases the odds that recovering addicts can withstand the sometimes intense cravings during the initial months out of rehab.
But sober living housing offers more and one of the intangibles, but something that does offer great assistance to those struggling with sobriety, is simply the development of sober friendships within the house, and learning again how to have fun without drugs or alcohol.
Most people with lengthy addictions histories have spent years equating fun or recreation with intoxication, and newly sober addicts often find leisure time one of the greatest threats to sobriety. How can you have fun without intoxication?
If you're on your own, filling leisure time and dealing with loneliness can be difficult, but in a sober living house you benefit from the company and camaraderie of a group of recovering addicts in a very similar situation to yours. Sober living house friendships are the rule rather than the exception, and addicts learn together how to have fun and enjoy themselves in a healthy and safe manner.
This may seem a small thing at the surface level, but dealing with leisure time in a healthy way is crucial to long term sobriety, and those that cannot learn this skill have little chance at ultimate success.
Don't relapse
No Relapse! 3 ways to stay sober after drug or alcohol rehab
Drug or alcohol rehab is unfortunately no guarantee of long term sobriety, and a great many people fail to see sobriety through the end of the first very risky year after rehab. Here are three things you can do to maximize the odds of staying sober and staying healthy after the end of drug or alcohol rehab.
Insomnia can lead to relapse. 8 ways to get to sleep at night; even while going through withdrawal!
We don’t often think of sleep as a risk factor to relapse and abuse, but insomnia during long term withdrawal is a significant predictor of further abuse. This is very problematic as one of the symptoms of long term withdrawal off of a great many drugs is a prolonged period of sleep disturbances. Here are 8 ways to get to sleep at night, even while going through withdrawal.
Alcoholism; 3 ways family can help a recovering alcoholic stay sober
You can never fight the battles of alcoholism recovery for someone you love, but that doesn’t mean that family can't help a lot on the road to sobriety. Although the recovering alcoholic must walk the lonely road to sobriety alone, there are three concrete actions that a loving and supportive family can take to help out along the way.
