Is There a Difference Between a Sober House and a Halfway House?

These facilities are normally certified or governed by Sober Living Coalitions or networks and structured around 12 step programs and ideologies. Sober houses are meant to bridge the gap between addiction treatment and returning back home. The structure and support that are provided by sober housing help people who are new to recovery keep sobriety as their top priority. It’s easy to confuse sober living houses with rehab centers or halfway houses, but there are some stark differences among them. Rehab centers offer intensive recovery programs that help residents overcome addictions by following strict rules and regulations.

Phase I lasts 30 to 90 days and is designed to provide some limits and structure for new residents. Residents must agree to abide by a curfew and attend at 12-step meetings five times per week. The purpose of these requirements is to help residents successfully transition into the facility, adapt to the SLH environment, and develop a stable recovery program. Sober houses usually offer access to therapy, support groups, and 12-step meetings, either in-house or outside the home. Part of daily life in a sober house includes attending these sessions, as well as any experiential therapies that are offered. These can include yoga, meditation, and other holistic activities that promote mental wellness and sobriety. Outside social activities are often offered, allowing residents the chance to get out and enjoy their new sober lives in social situations. Most residences have a strict visitor policy and a curfew which the residents must abide by. Sober houses often have an affiliation with a rehab facility or recovery program in the same area. Residents are often coming out of treatment or are enrolled in an outpatient treatment program.

High Accountability Sober Living

Those who live in these houses rent rooms indefinitely and live a life in accordance with their responsibilities, like work and school. Sober living homes may accept residents who are new to the rehab process, but most applicants have gone through a program before applying. This makes sense; residents must be able to stay sober in order to live the sober house. Recovering addicts who have sobriety under their belt and tools to stay clean are more likely to succeed in sober living.

They are also given access to nearby yoga studios, gyms, art rooms, and recreational activities, to help keep up with the regimes they established in structured treatment. Sober houses that aren’t affiliated with outpatient rehab normally have a sober house manager and a general set of rules to abide by. Sober houses offer a private or shared room, community meals or kitchen privileges, shared housekeeping tasks, recreational facilities, and laundry facilities. Sober roommates might attend meetings together and find jobs that allow them to create a lasting pathway to recovery. Sober housing isn’t meant to be a permanent living situation, but rather a temporary transition period that allows people in recovery to find a balance between their new lives and sobriety.

How Much Does Sober Living Cost?

But it’s the goal of a sober living house to keep sobriety from ever becoming boring. From horseback riding to snowboarding, hiking to creative writing to local sporting events, sober living houses are meant to serve as a light to guide your journey to permanent freedom. The best sober living houses make it a priority to keep you satisfied, happy and healthy during the recovery process. There are several limitations to the study that are important to consider. First, we could not directly compare which type of SLH was most effective because there were demographic and other individual characteristics that differed between the two types of houses. Second, individuals self selected themselves into the houses and a priori characteristics of these individuals may have at least in part accounted for the longitudinal improvements. Although self selection can be viewed as a weakness of the research designs, it can also be conceived as a strength, especially for studying residential recovery programs.

It’s important to know that sober living houses are not treatment centers. The staff doesn’t provide any clinical or medical services, but many residents attend outpatient treatment or participate in recovery-based groups while they live there. Maintaining sobriety can be a difficult process, however, a sober living house may provide you with the kind of structure and support you’ll need to maintain your sobriety. If you’re having a hard time adjusting to a sober life, reach out to a mental health professional who specializes in addiction and substance use. While completing a substance abuse rehab program before moving in may not be required, it can help individuals to stay sober. However, if residents are willing to remain sober, follow all house rules, and guarantee medical stability, they should feel free to apply. A halfway house is a structured, recovery-supportive, temporary living arrangement for someone stepping down from the inpatient level of care. It is meant to help with the transition back to the community, but this time, as someone in recovery, not active addition. While adjusting, they continue to receive therapy or counseling and are also encouraged to participate in volunteer service, seek employment and enrich their daily living skills. There may also be a limit on how much time a resident can stay at the halfway house.

Polcin DL, Korcha R, Bond J, Galloway GP. Eighteen month outcomes for clients receiving combined outpatient treatment and sober living houses. Interviews will elicit their knowledge about addiction, recovery, and community based recovery houses such as SLHs. We hypothesize that barriers to expansion of SLHs might vary by stakeholder groups. Drug and alcohol administrators and operators of houses might therefore need different strategies to address the concerns of different stakeholders. Despite the enormous need for housing among the offender population, SLHs have been largely overlooked as a housing option for them .

Our intervention modifies motivational interviewing to address the specific needs of the offender population . Specifically, it helps residents resolve their mixed feelings (i.e., ambivalence) about living in the SLH and engaging in other community based services. Thus, the intervention is a way to help them prepare for the challenges and recognize the potential benefits of new activities and experiences. Prison and jail overcrowding in the U.S. has reached a crisis point. Each year more than 7 million individuals are released from local jails into communities and over 600,000 are released on parole from prison (Freudenberg, Daniels, Crum, Perkins & Richie, 2005).

Characteristics of Sober Living Houses

These houses belong to individuals or private addiction treatment centers, which means they are not impacted by federal or state budget cuts. The houses are typically modern and in popular neighborhoods, and a wide range of services are offered to the residents. Prices for sober house living range from modest amounts for the budget-minded to whats a sober house luxury housing with many amenities. There are many benefits of sober living homes, with the most obvious one being that they offer people a safe place to live and heal. Users can get away from the temptations of their hometown – their peer-pressuring, drug-using, party-going friends – and find solace in a protected, peaceful environment.

Some sober living houses are considered to be outpatient treatment centers, which means they also provide on-site medical care. These types of houses will be staffed by psychiatric nurses and licensed clinical social workers. Freestanding SLH’s offer a limited amount of structure and no formal treatment services. Thus, they are optimal for residents who are capable of handling a fair amount of autonomy and who can take personal responsibility for their recovery. Expansion of freestanding SLHs in communities might therefore ease the burden on overwhelmed treatment systems. The availability of treatment slots for individuals released from jail or prison or particularly lacking.

Below we define what sober living homes are, and what they can mean for individuals struggling with drug abuse and addiction. When deciding whether or not to move into a sober house, it’s essential to consider your budget and what you’re hoping to get out of the experience. If you’re looking for an upscale sobriety experience, you may be willing to pay Sober Home more for a luxury sober home. However, if you’re simply looking for a safe and supportive place to live while you get sober, many affordable options are available. When you first enter a sober living house in Austin, you may wonder how long you are expected to stay. There is no set time frame for how long you need to stay in a sober living house.