What are Sober Living Homes?
A sober living home is a safe, supportive and substance-free residence for people in recovery,
Sober living homes act as the bridge between a drug treatment facility and the “real world.” They facilitate the transition from rehab back into the mainstream community, and support independent, healthy living in a person’s early recovery. The goal of sober living is to separate users from their previous, substance-occupied environment, and provide them with a safe and supportive place to heal, away from outside pressures.
You may also find sober living as part of a more structured extended care treatment program. These are specially designed to help ease residents’ transition back into everyday life, while still extending ongoing care and support. For example, at many sober living homes, clients progress through multiple phases, which allows them to gradually gain more independence over time – finding jobs, taking classes, cooking meals, attending meetings – and to better prepare for life in the real world, all while receiving continual counseling, clinical treatment and group meetings.
The right sober living home will not just prohibit you from using drugs and alcohol, but also provide a sober support system for you to lean on, and encourage the skills needed for you to live a happy and healthy life in recovery!
What Is a Halfway House?
Halfway houses are very similar to sober living environments, however people often tend to confuse them.
Halfway houses serve as the halfway point between an institution and independent society, with residents usually coming from either correctional facilities or inpatient treatment settings.
Halfway houses, like other sober living environments, are intended to gently reintroduce tenants back into normal day to day life, free from the pressures and triggers of a potentially dangerous home environment.
Also like other sober-living environments, halfway houses generally have systems in place to keep residents sober, and drug tests are administered in order to monitor resident’s for any substance use. They also often come with additional mental health, medical, recovery or educational services that help people get accustomed to their new lives in recovery.
What Are the Differences between Halfway Houses and Other Sober-Living Houses?
Although halfway houses share a lot in common with sober-living homes, there are a few key differences that set them apart.
For one, the residents of halfway houses may be court mandated to live there, and a resident may be coming from a correctional facility rather than a substance use treatment program, which is typically the case at sober living homes.
Similarly, the residents of a sober-living home are often in the middle of an ongoing recovery process, attending Twelve Step meetings and other outpatient programs for their substance use—whereas the tenants in a halfway house may not be engaged in recovery programs outside of their halfway house.
Halfway houses are often owned by the state, while most sober-living houses are owned privately or by treatment facilities that want to provide continuing support for their clients.
