How Does Sober Living Work?
How to sober living work? Is it different from a halfway house? These are common questions to have, and Centric Behavioral Health can help answer them.
A sober living facility might be the answer if you have completed inpatient or outpatient rehab programs but don’t yet feel comfortable living on your own.
Centric Behavioral Health is a group of top-rated addiction treatment centers. To learn more about our addiction treatment services in Florida, contact Centric today.
What is Sober Living?
Sober houses are residential communities where groups of people can live together in a shared environment. With a sober living home, all the residents are in recovery, so you are surrounded by people going through similar struggles.
Does sober living work? Yes! If you follow the rules laid out at the facility, sober house living can work as a great transition from rehab to independence. They give you a chance to get back on your feet, find employment or go back to school, rebuild parts of your life that may have been on hold during your recovery, and practice the skills you learned in rehab.
Why is Sober Living Important in Recovery?
An 18-month longitudinal study has determined that participation in a sober house living environment after outpatient treatment showed significant improvement on:
- The number of days worked
- Legal issues
- Employment rates
- Arrest rates
- Relapses
Sober living is essential to recovery for many reasons.
Sober living is a safe way to find a place to live while you transition. Not everyone has a safe environment they can return to after completing rehab. Some people lost their living arrangements because of legal complications or financial issues associated with drug use or entering rehab. A sober living facility can be a safe transition where you are confident that the people around you will support your decision to get clean and won’t trigger you into a relapse.
Second, sober living helps you reclaim your independence. You have the freedom to develop your own schedule. Other than a curfew and a few sobriety rules, you are free to come and go as you choose. This enables you to find a new job, look for more permanent housing after you leave your sober home, go back to school, rebuild relationships with close friends and family, or anything else.
Third, sober houses let you exercise things like willpower and apply the skills you learned in rehab. These skills can include coping mechanisms when things get stressful and life skills like those you apply to your daily schedule as you start to reclaim your independence and find sober hobbies and social activities.
How Does Sober Living Work?
Shared Residence
Sober houses are shared residences, so there may be twelve other people or more in a given community. You might have an individual room, but often, you have a shared room. During your stay, you can slowly rebuild your life the way you want, with a reliable schedule and freedom to make decisions.
Shared Rules
There are rules in every sober living facility. For example:
- You will have to participate in group meetings. These might include 12-step meetings held at the sober house living facility. They are mandatory.
- You will have a curfew and have to be back at the residence by that time, out of respect for yourself and for everyone else.
- You will have to maintain sobriety: no drugs or alcohol in the sober living facility, no getting high elsewhere and returning, and so on.
Involvement in 12-step programs increases the reduction of relapse rates for people participating in a sober living home.
A routine with rules you must follow helps increase your willpower and prevent relapse.
With minimal rules to follow, you get to develop a routine you like, such as finding a job, cooking for yourself, and running errands or socializing as you see fit (within the parameters of the sober living facility rules).
How Centric Behavioral Health Can Help With Your Sober Living Needs
If you are ready to transition into a sober living home, we can help. Centric Behavioral Health can connect you with sober living homes in your area that fit your needs. We know how important it is to feel comfortable and safe in your living environment, which is why we work hard to place you with a facility you can trust.
We also understand the importance of practicing your coping skills surrounded by a network of supportive individuals. To that end, we will help you find a facility with living arrangements and group meetings that work best for you.
Contact Centric Behavioral Health today to learn more about what we treat, our levels of care, and our locations.
