How Sober Living Can Keep Your Recovery on Track

Throughout the process of recovery, you are likely to experience many ups and down. You may develop useful coping skills during treatment that can be used to overcome potential stressors. Implementing those skills into your life outside of treatment may not always be smooth sailing.

A great way to help transition your skills and keep on track with your recovery is sober living. Sober living homes provide various benefits and are an excellent way to transition from treatment to independent living. Unfortunately, stigmas exist regarding sober living homes. However, if you take the time to learn about sober living, you may find that their benefits alter your opinion on these stigmas.

What Does Sober Living Look Like?

Before deciding if sober living is right for you, it is important to understand what is expected. Sober living homes are often referred to as “halfway houses” or “transitional living” homes. There are many stigmas around sober living homes that stray individuals away from their learning their advantages. 

Despite these stigmas, sober living homes are a great resource during the transitional stages of recovery. Learn what sober living homes look like and how they can benefit your recovery.

Unlike many sober living homes, Real Recovery Sober LIvings attempts to create the most home-like environment possible, ensuring that you are living in a transitional home that meets your living standards. 

The facility provides you with a home-like structure through our multi-family apartment-style housing can help you establish a routine and stability. With a total of six different locations and 300 beds available, many opportunities are open to you. The family-like structure can support the feeling of a home environment during this stage of change.

To help you through this transition, we break our sober living homes into three phases: 

• Phase 1: This phase is typically for your first 31 days after treatment. During this period, you may have more intensive restrictions and are expected to focus on transitioning your recovery. 
• Phase 2: This stage occurs from day 31 to the six-month mark. During this stage, you will have adjusted to the sober living environment and can focus your actions on community engagement. 
• Phase 3: This phase occurs from nine to18 months. During this phase, you will be an active pillar of the sober living community. While not everyone stays the full 18 months, it is important to utilize sober living as long as needed. You can begin building a life for yourself during this stage and increase your independence.

Aspects of each of these phases may vary between individuals. However, residents typically follow this basic structure. 

Initially, the first phase is catered to help you adjust to this lifestyle and feel comfortable in the home. The second phase allows you to focus on your needs, build relationships, and continue to adapt the skills necessary to move forward. In the third phase, you are likely seen as a form of role model to other residents and should feel well on your way to independence.

Admission Requirements

Some requirements must be met before becoming a part of the Real Recovery Sober Living home family. The facility is happy that you are seeking assistance in your recovery journey. However, it is also important that you bring an encouraging factor for the other residents as well as yourself. Before moving in, you must pass a drug test, showing you are free from substance use.

Along with passing a drug test, you are required to pay a one-time fee of $150 and have the ability to pay your first week’s rental costs. You must be willing to get a job, go to meetings, work towards stability in your life, and follow the rules of the facility. While some rules may seem strict or excessive, each rule has been placed to help keep you and the other residents safe and on the path to a successful recovery. 

You are expected to be committed to the betterment of yourself and be actively working towards your goals. This is not only a home environment used as a temporary place to live but also a place to truly find yourself and feel confident in your newfound life.

Benefits of Sober Living Homes

After completing treatment and attempting to re-enter society, there are often various obstacles that arise that you may not feel fully prepared for. While engaged in a sober living community, these external stressors can be much easier to manage, as you are provided with an extra support system.

Structured Environment

One key benefit of sober living homes is the ability to influence your recovery success through the support of others. Living with other men in a similar situation can provide you with a family of supportive individuals to help encourage your recovery success. Being surrounded by a clean and structured environment, your surroundings are naturally impacting your potential to succeed.

A key component of sober living homes is that they are free from substance use. One of the most difficult adjustments for individuals leaving treatment is managing situations and remaining sober when substance use is present.

Being in an environment that is free from these triggers can allow you to adjust to the outside world in a slow and concise matter. This can greatly impact your success in staying on track with recovery and avoiding a relapse upon treatment release. When your home environment is free of potential triggers, you can focus on your everyday routines and improve the skills you have gained in treatment to maintain your sobriety. 

Social Engagement

As you are living in communal family-structured homes, you can fulfill your needs for social engagement. It can be difficult to make friends outside of treatment with your newfound goals of sobriety. Before treatment, substance use may have been the basis of your friendships. Substance use may have been the core activity that was involved in the friendship. Reaching out and attempting to find a new social circle after treatment is difficult for many individuals.

Through sober living homes, you can create friendships with the people from your housing unit. As Real Recovery Sober Living caters to many individuals, you are bound to find someone that becomes a close friend. Having friendships with other individuals in sober living can encourage you to stay on track with sobriety. These friendships can be incredibly encouraging as you both obtain similar goals moving forward.

Opportunity for Independence

Many individuals struggle to engage in independent actions upon treatment discharge. During the high point of substance use, it is common to become dependent on family, friends, and support systems around you. 

The result may be the destruction of relationships with individuals you feel close to and reinforcement of the codependency you experience with others. While you are surrounded by the support of other like-minded individuals in a sober living home, you also are expected to care for yourself.

Living in this environment places you in a situation that requires you to become independent. This is an important life skill to have as you adjust to life outside of treatment and begin to build a life for yourself. 

Gaining skills of independence can help you feel confident in caring for yourself and keeping on the path to success. These skills are often necessary when attempting to maintain sobriety but are not always addressed. Ensuring you can reach a state of independence will ease this transition drastically.

Many simple skills are often overlooked in treatment for addiction. Things such as cooking, clearing, finding transportation, paying bills, and other necessary skills may not be addressed. In sober living homes, you can take the necessary time, with the support of staff and the community, to implement these skills into your adult life. 

Getting adjusted to these stressful factors of adulthood can allow you to continue focusing on your needs to maintain sobriety. Lessening the stress of everyday engagement can help you refrain from using substances as a coping mechanism.

Relapse Avoidance

Sober living homes are a great resource to stay on track with recovery for many reasons. One of the most influential reasons is to avoid encountering a relapse. Through a combination of benefits discussed above, these homes are designed to reduce the chance of relapse. 

By eliminating many potential situations that often lead to relapse and continuing to build your recovery skills, relapse can hopefully be avoided altogether. If you recognize the signs of relapse and fear that you may encounter one shortly, you can always reach out to the staff on hand for help.

The team is more than happy to assist you through any obstacles encountered that expand your concern for relapse. As this can occur at any point of the recovery journey, we are happy to assist you with arising concerns. Even after leaving Real Recovery Sober Living homes, you are always welcome to come back for support, advice, and encouragement.

Increasing the skills you have to avoid a relapse and cope with the stressors that present themselves can greatly encourage your success. Having the resources available to help eliminate the potential for relapse is a great step when working to maintain sobriety in life outside of treatment. 

Using the skills you have learned, you can promote sobriety for yourself. You can also work to encourage others in the sober living homes to reach success as well. As a community, recovery can flourish. 

Stay on Track

Sober living homes are a great resource to use to stay on track to success in your recovery journey. You may fear that you will slip up or lose sight of your progress after leaving treatment, but you can stay engaged through a sober living home. 

This is an excellent way to transition into your adult lifestyle post-treatment without losing sight of your sobriety goals. Treatment teaches you a number of skills to reduce the chance of relapse. Sober living is a great way to use the knowledge you have gained to your advantage in this transitional state.

Sober living homes are a great resource to utilize when transitioning out of treatment. Use these homes to assist while staying on the path to success in recovery. They can provide you with many benefits, from encouraging social support to providing a stable environment for transition. While our facility has a set of admission requirements, we try to create reasonable expectations for you to get the help you need. This community is a great way to create lasting relationships to support you in your recovery journey. By reducing the potential of relapse, setting you up for independence, and creating a structured environment for you to thrive in, sober living is a great way to transition to the outside world. To learn more about how sober living homes work and how to see if it is right for you, reach out to Real Recovery Sober Living at (727) 290-9156.