What is sober living?
Sober living can have many different terms. Simply put, sober living homes are a place for addicts and alcoholics to live. They are usually supportive homes that are structured, with accountability and live in management. Whether you are searching for transitional housing, halfway housing or are simply beginning your search, we hope to help you.
Why sober living?
Sober living will help when it comes to dealing with drug and alcohol addiction. However, there are many options. The best option is usually at least thirty days in an inpatient, residential sober living treatment facility. There the addict or alcoholic will learn to find healthier solutions to their problems instead of drinking or using. After sobering up and completing the program, it may seem like a good idea to move back home and pick up life where they left off.
However, this is almost never a good idea. While inpatient treatment can give addicts and alcoholics a strong foundation and a good starting point for them to begin their new lives in recovery, transitioning immediately back to the environment that they were drinking or using in is extremely risky. The biggest risk for relapse happens when leaving treatment and being confronted with the temptations of the real world. This is where sober living comes in.
A sober living home provides a safe and supportive environment for the addict or alcoholic to gradually readjust to life in the real world. They will have the structure, accountability, and sense of community that they had in residential treatment while also being able to work or go to school and experience the freedom of a normal life.
Choosing the right sober living
There are many choices when it comes to sober living, and it is easy to feel overwhelmed. Any city will have a number of sober living homes with open beds, and large cities can offer dozens of different options.
The range of prices and services offered is extremely large. Oxford Houses are cheap and offer largely independent living with few amenities. These are often a good option for those constrained by budget. However, these homes often have a high turnover rate and are not able to offer the range of services that other homes do.
Other homes have a slightly higher rent cost, but offer significantly more in terms of services. This might include a more luxurious setting, a well-stocked kitchen so residents do not have to get their own groceries, televisions in the bedrooms, cable and Wi-Fi, public transportation passes and gym memberships, accountability and drug testing from a live-in house manager, rules ensuring residents get a job or attend school and come home before curfew, one-on one recovery coaching, dialogue between the staff and family, and regular house meetings. Real Deal Recovery is an excellent sober living house in Dallas that offers all of these features.
When an addict or alcoholic is approaching the discharge date of their residential treatment program, their counselor can work with them to find the sober living house in their city that is the best fit for them.
Is Sober Living worth the costs?
Finding costs for sober living can be a headache online. And with residential treatment being very pricey, it can feel like too much to have to spend. Especially when more money is required for a sober living home after treatment is supposedly finished. But making sure an addict or alcoholic stays sober is priceless.
Not only does a sober living home help its residents stay sober and learn to deal with everyday life in the outside world, but it also provides them with a sense of community and a chance to have fun. After getting sober, many people realize that they don’t have much in common with their old friends. They begin to feel alone and isolated.
The sense of community provided by a sober living home alleviates this feeling. Residents form strong bonds, often resulting in lifetime friendships. They learn to enjoy life sober, beginning to have fun without the need for drugs and alcohol.
If you were to ask the residents of a sober home, especially one of the quality of Real Deal sober living, they would tell you it is worth every penny. If you were to ask their families, they would emphatically agree. Knowing your loved one is safe and doing well after years of uncertainty is worth any cost.
Where to begin?
We understand that beginning this journey may be frightening. So, where do you go from here? Well, start with applying for sober living with us. If we are not a good fit, we will certainly help you find somewhere that is.
The history of recovery homes
The first sign of recovery homes was in 1864. Known as the “Temporary Asylum for Discharged Female Prisoners”,National evaluation program halfway houses. This first home was for ex-female prisoners. Finding out that people needed a place to learn how to live, how to adapt to society, and what to do with their lives next, the house did well in society and showed the public it’s possible to help felons become productive citizens. Critical issues in Halfway House Operations.
Fast forward a few years, and halfway houses become a prevalent source for integration. However, at this point in recovery history, halfway houses were primarily focused on criminals. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that focus was shifted to addiction and alcoholism.
Sober living begins
Sober living homes became possible by creating homes that were specific to addiction and alcoholism. Because halfway houses and other forms of transitional living had previously been focused on ex prisoners, sober living became a new form of societal reform.
In the mid 20th century, addiction treatment began to change.Sober living houses (slh) research. The state departments realized, after many psychiatric patients stopped being incarcerated, that addiction and alcoholism was a beast of its own. And the community agreed. Furthermore, the need for housing for those in recovery was beginning to become a private affair. Meaning, sober living homes started opening by people in recovery, who had personal experience with addiction and alcoholism.
Impact on society
Today, sober living homes are a well known entity. From media coverage to celebrity residents, SLH’s have made a big impact on those in addiction recovery. However, the total publicity has not been without drama. In fact, there are a few cases of SLH’s owners who have made a bad rep on the industry. But, for the most part, people seem to understand that sober living homes offer a phenomenal opportunity for those who are struggling with addiction and alcoholism.
The state and sober living
There have been many cases in which the state and federal systems have encountered issues with the operations of private sober living companies. However, in most cases, the SLH wins the lawsuits. Because it is conducting business under federal protection for housing disability, the authorities can do little to interfere. We as addicts and alcoholics are technically “disabled”, and fall under certain protective at a federal level. (SAMHSA’s National Helpline)
The future of sober living
When understanding our society as a whole, and the rapid rise of addiction rates, we must come together and provide services for helping those struggling. The future should be promising. We should have an answer to the problems that are plaguing our country. Or, at least, a beginning. At Real Deal, we are the sober living company focused on making a better tomorrow.