Finding Healing at a Sober Living House

Recovery is a dynamic process that is unique to each person. Post-treatment, you enter early recovery where you must learn how to reintegrate into your life and community. However, reintegrating into society after treatment is easier said than done. The continuum of care incorporates different programs to help you transition from structured support in a residential program to more independence in an outpatient (OP) or aftercare program. Thus, an important step in your journey from inpatient to OP can include housing like a sober living house.

At New Creation Recovery, we know how important continuing care treatment like a sober living house is for long-term recovery. Exiting rehab is a significant step on your recovery journey that can feel daunting. Concerns about relapse and reintegrating safely with housing like a halfway house near me can be overwhelming. However, utilizing aftercare services like a sober living house can help you build on the tools you learned in treatment. Therefore, access to a sober living house can help you continue to heal beyond treatment and thrive in long-term recovery.

Yet, you may wonder, what is a sober living house? Is a sober living house different from your residential program or an OP? How can a sober living house help you transition into long-term recovery?

What Is a Sober Living House?

As noted by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS), recovery housing is a safe and healthy living environment. Recovery housing is designed to promote abstinence from substances and increase clients’ participation and retention of recovery support tools. Some of the key components that support living independently as a productive member of the community in recovery housing include:

• Access to peer support
• Fostering accountability
• Embodying the social model of recovery
• Engaging in relapse prevention strategies
• Incorporating employment skills training

The key components of recovery housing highlight the general purpose of post-treatment housing like a sober living house. According to the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, a sober living house is an alcohol and drug-free living environment in which you cohabitate with peers. Together, you and your peers provide support to each other for recovery outside of and beyond treatment. A sober living house is structured to lower the barriers found in other recovery housing like a halfway house. Listed below are the five characteristics that typically make up the structure of a sober living house:

• A living environment free of abused legal and illegal substances
  • Houses individuals attempting to abstain from substance use following time in an inpatient treatment program
• Does not directly provide formal treatment services
  • A sober living house requires or strongly encourages attending a 12-Step program and other mutual support groups
    • Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
    • Narcotics Anonymous (NA)
• Must comply with house rules set forth by the house manager
  • Maintain abstinence
  • Adhere to medication management if applicable
  • Pay your rent and other fees
  • Participate in house chores with other house members
  • Attend house meetings
• You are responsible for financing rent and other costs
• As long as you comply with the house rules, you can stay in a sober living house for an extended period
  • Most programs recommend staying in a sober living house for at least 90 days
  • The majority of individuals stay in a sober living house for at least a year

Beyond the basic structure of a sober living house, there are different model approaches to consider. Some sober living houses follow a strong manager model in which the owner or manager establishes and enforces house rules. However, contemporary sober living houses emphasize a social model approach where residents are empowered with leadership positions and forums. In leadership positions and forums, each member’s input is a part of the decision-making in the house. Whether following a traditional or social model, building a strong support network is a vital component of a sober house. Through a strong support network, you are encouraged to provide mutual support and encouragement for recovery with your fellow peers. 

Moreover, a sober living house can be configured in various ways to support a diverse array of people. Therefore, a sober living house can be co-ed, gender-specific, LGBTQIA+ friendly or specific, and even parent/child specific. Further, entering a structured living space after treatment has become a common and often expected part of the recovery process. Thus, knowing the difference between the various forms of post-treatment housing can support maintaining your recovery. In addition, understanding housing differences can showcase the value of a sober living house as a part of your recovery.

Recovery Housing: Understanding Housing Differences

There are several different types of housing options utilized to support the transition from a residential treatment program. Understanding the differences between the various sober housing options is important because they are often confused with each other. For example, the terms “sober living house” and “halfway house” are often used interchangeably even though they are different. Listed below are some of the different forms of sober living environments:

Halfway Houses

• Can be used by anyone in need, like unhoused individuals, but this housing option has historically been designed for individuals exiting incarceration and a substance use disorder (SUD) treatment program
  • There is a time limit to how long you can stay: a couple of months to a couple of years
  • Highly structured programs: treatment plans, making living and housing arrangements, relapse prevention, and repairing interpersonal relationships
  • Typically runs on state sponsorship: partial government funding through grants, and residents pay a portion of rent from their income or full coverage from state funding
  • Residents must provide their food and toiletries
  • Staff can help with applying for government assistance programs
  • Offers community support
  • Transitioning from prison and or a residential SUD or mental health treatment program
  • Some may support specific populations: individuals who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) and unhoused individuals
  • Living arrangements: dormitory style includes a shared living space with bunk beds or multiple beds or small rooms shared with roommates
  • Housing rules: a set curfew, conduct regulations, alcohol- and drug-free property, abstinence from substances, daily chores, must seek or be employed, and meeting attendance

Transitional Living Houses

• Supportive but temporary housing designed to help people transition from homelessness to permanent housing
  • Designed to support unhoused individuals, individuals in crisis, and populations facing social acceptance issues
    • LGBTQIA+, racial/ethnic minorities, religious minorities
  • Supports eliminating the gap between temporary housing, permanent housing, and maintaining permanent housing
  • Provides structured support
    • Resources for life skill building, work training, and education
  • Onsite supervisors
  • Access to a case manager
  • Traditionally located in dedicated housing: focuses on more shared spaces and less privacy
  • Contemporary transitional living houses combine scattered-site housing
    • Homes built throughout urban areas rather than in one neighborhood
    • Gives you access to neighbors with diverse backgrounds to better integrate into your new community
    • Offers flexibility in picking housing that matches your unique needs like proximity to work, school, and family

Permanent Supportive or Supported Housing

• A type of housing that assistance with seeking rental housing coupled with individualized, flexible, and voluntary support services
  • Typically designed to support the needs of individuals with physical and or mental health disorders, developmental disabilities, and or SUD
  • An alternative housing option for individuals who were homeless for a long time before treatment
  • Typically housing is contained to a single structure or home: a single room, some of the rooms in a structure, or all the units in a structure

Oxford Homes

• A self-run and self-supporting community-based recovery home
  • Encourages interdependence and accountability
  • Expected to seek or maintain employment
  • You pay small fees and rent each week
  • There are no paid staff or supervisors
    • The house is run by the members who live in the home
    • Individuals are elected to lead the house by the other house members
      • House members typically hold a leadership position for a six-month term

The different types of transition housing showcase the significance of transitional support for integration and recovery after treatment.

Value of a Sober Living House

Leaving the structured environment of a treatment program can be difficult and disruptive to your recovery. Thus, rather than dropping intensive support to complete independence, a sober living house offers a structured in-between. Without the support of transitional housing like a sober living house, individuals are at greater risk for relapse. According to the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, several environmental factors contribute to risky substance use behaviors. Some of the environmental risk factors that can lead to relapse include:

• Risky environments where you have easy access to substances
• Returning to a neighborhood with concentrated disadvantages
  • Low income, poverty, low educational attainment, high unemployment rates
  • Few opportunities for economic advancement 
• Re-exposed to a disordered environment or neighborhood
  • Lack of social control over your environment
    • Dilapidated or abandoned homes, businesses, schools, and other forms of infrastructure
    • Graffiti, vandalism, and trash
    • High traffic and noise volume
    • The presence of violence and crime
• A lack of neighborhood social cohesion
• Explicit, systemic, and structural racism
  • Residential segregation and restrictive land use 
  • Unfair lending practices and other barriers that impede homeownership and renting
  • Laws, policies, and practices that prevent the accumulation of wealth and upward mobility
  • Schools’ dependence on local property taxes leads to a cycle of poorly funded schools in low-income communities
• A lack of or poor access to pro-social and environmental resources
  • Libraries, recreation centers, parks and other greenspaces, and medical and social services
    • Impairs access to alternative leisure activities in structured social settings 
• Geographical disadvantage and unreliable transportation options
  • Unable to utilize continuing care from OP services
  • Inconsistent childcare 

Even with the support of treatment, returning to the unhealthy environment in which your substance use started can disrupt healing. Thus, a sober living house can be invaluable for knowledge and resources to seek healthier environments in recovery. When you spend time in a sober living house, you gain:

• Access to guidance and support as you learn to live independently and integrate into the community
• Deep and meaningful relationships with your sober peers
• The ability to practice and effectively use life skills in your daily life
• Necessary real-time experience living in recovery to decrease relapse

Moreover, the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment states that recovery housing is not limited to an aftercare endpoint. Therefore, recovery housing can also support individuals in OP treatment before symptoms escalate to the need for residential treatment. Whether you are independently seeking support in OP or exiting residential treatment and or criminal justice involvement, recovery housing can support well-being in the following ways:

• Engagement in recovery
• Prevent attrition
• Reduce the progression of the disorder
• Greater satisfaction with treatment and recovery
• Provide respite from worry and reassurance of your recovery for you and your loved ones

Further, a sober living house can be impactful for underserved groups like women who are often primary caregivers. Thus, in a sober living house, women can have a respite from their caregiver responsibilities. Without the pressures of familial obligation, women can focus on meeting their recovery needs. The additional benefits of recovery housing showcase the value of a women-only sober living house for long-term recovery.

Supporting Women: The Importance of a Women-Only Sober Living House

Women often have gender-specific experiences coupled with SUD that can impede recovery. From additional caregiver responsibilities to higher rates of stigma and discrimination, women need support that considers their unique experiences. Thus, a women-only sober living house can provide the gender-sensitive and gender-responsive care you need for long-term healing. Listed below are some of the benefits of a women-only sober living house:

• Reduces distractions
  • Shared gender experiences can increase comfort: menstruation, motherhood, and societal pressures 
  • Can eliminate temptation between house members
• Supports more control over your life
  • Better able to manage multiple responsibilities and obligations
    • Parenting, work, school, self-care, and other interpersonal relationships
  • You can remain calm and adapt to difficult situations
  • Better able to problem-solve challenges
• Improves your ability to be present
  • Able to be an active participant in your family’s life
  • Better able to provide attention and affection to children and other loved ones
  • Foster relationships and experiences based on trust
  • Able to model healthy behavior and relationships for your children
• Provides a safe and comfortable environment
  • Increase feelings of safety and protection
  • Eliminate trigger situations for women who have experienced IPV and other forms of trauma from men
  • Privacy and confidentiality decrease discomfort in sharing your recovery journey
• Supports a sense of community
  • A safe and supportive environment encourages connection and community
  • Encourages collaboration for healing through shared stories and experiences
  • You feel heard and supported
  • Solidarity motivates each other to participate in house activities and maintain sobriety
• Address gender-specific issues
  • Programs that focus on and consider the impact of trauma, body image, mental health, and other issues 
  • Provides tailored support and guidance
• Individualized relapse prevention
  • Access to female-focused relapse prevention suggestions and resources
  • Tailored aftercare plan: specific relapse prevention techniques, trauma resources, coping with unique triggers, and addressing specific needs for a healthy home environment
• Supports a female-centered perspective
  • Caters to and supports the unique needs of the women living in the house
    • A female perspective and approach to recovery messaging, activities, and support
• Nurtures healthy communication
  • Promotes mutual respect and open communication between house members
  • Supports learning how to build healthy relationships
  • Fosters effective communication skills
  • Able to build meaningful connections with peers and loved ones
• Cultivates a strong support network
  • Provides a strong foundation through a built-in network of other women in recovery
  • Promotes the ability to learn from and model behavior after other strong women
  • Encourages the further development and integration of lessons learned in treatment
  • Promotes friendship and support among women rather than competition
    • Better able to work together to build and maintain long-term friendships, health, and happiness

The unique benefits of a women-only sober living house highlight the significance of gender in recovery.

Finding Gender-Responsive Care at New Creation Recovery

Ignoring the impact gender roles, expectations, and pressures have on women is a disservice to women. Treatment and recovery alone can present many challenges that attempt to disrupt your well-being. Therefore, the barriers to care and support women experience further impede long-term recovery. 

Thus, at New Creation Recovery, we know providing gender-specific facilities for Christian sober living can support your transition from rehab to a fulfilling and purposeful life in recovery. Through gender-specific aftercare, we can continue to address your unique experiences and needs to reintegrate into society. With a commitment to Christian values and whole-person care, we work to dismantle gender as a barrier to healing so you can heal in a safe and comfortable space at every stage of recovery.

Transitioning from structured support to independence can disrupt recovery, but a sober living house can make integration into recovery easier. Yet, women experience additional unique barriers to long-term recovery. The gender roles, societal expectations, stigma, and discrimination women experience can impede access to effective recovery resources. Without access to supportive resources, women are at a greater risk for relapse post-treatment. However, access to a women-only sober living house can provide the specific guidance, support, and resources women need to thrive. In a gender-specific sober living house, women can find solidarity in each other, address the challenges of caregiver responsibilities, and provide tailored support that considers the unique experiences of women. Call New Creation Recovery at (877) 868-5730 today.