How to Start a Sober Living Home in Your Community

These became the first sober houses in California – some of which are still operating today. Sober living homes offer safety and support for people recovering from drug or alcohol abuse. You live in a substance-free environment while navigating the responsibilities of life in the real world.

Our quarterly newsletter reminds you that others have gone down this path and can provide valuable support. No matter where on your journey – considering sobriety, living sober for years or months already – our newsletter is here as a guide with helpful resources, events, and more. The residents are also required to always keep their bedrooms clean. All of these practices are intended to foster a closer relationship with the community. It also teaches the residents about the value of being courteous and respectful to other people. This is major learning that they can apply in real life so that they can coexist with everyone else.

Further Reading About House Rules for Sober Living

Our mission is to foster long-term sobriety by creating a supportive environment where house members participate in each other’s recovery. We encourage everyone to reinforce positive lifestyle changes through adventure, support, and peer feedback. Those searching for the right sober living home should look for facilities with reputable staff, and a safe and productive living environment and culture. Sober living houses can foster peer encouragement, camaraderie, character development, and accountability in residents. The outcomes of living in such an environment can include positive health, behavioral, and relationship changes.

Additionally, all the visitors must be approved first by the house manager. There are blacklisted visitors, like a previous drug supplier or an alcoholic who isn’t fully recovered yet, or people of the opposite sex. At Footprints to Recovery, over 70% of our patients choose to stay in sober living while receiving treatment or after completing treatment with us. Most of them view their homes as a necessary component of a successful recovery. Specific nuances of each rule depend on the sober living home or manager. As you’re searching for the environment that’s right for you, ask each potential recovery home what their rules are.

What Are the Rules in Sober Living Homes?

Most aftercare plans involve a combination of multiple resources, ranging from coping skills and peer support systems. Support groups are one of the best ways of developing recovery skills and benefiting from mentorship in sobriety. The Minnesota proposals (HF 2493 (2008) and SF 2323 (2007))
seemed to be aimed at protecting the rights of sober house residents.

• Without a strong structure and regulated living environment, many people find it difficult to stay sober, even after doing quite well in rehab.
• The information provided by AddictionHelp.com is not a substitute for professional medical advice.
• Research has discovered that communal living can help decrease substance abuse and incarceration rates, and increase employment rates.
• Today, sober houses are “free-standing,” independently owned and operated.

The Association for Addiction Professionals represents the professional interests of more than 100,000 addiction-focused health care professionals in the United States, Canada and abroad. The Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations evaluates quality of care provided by healthcare organizations. Footprints has the Gold Seal of Approval, which is the highest standard. The National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers is a nonprofit professional society designed to offer support to organizations across the continuum of care.

What is the difference between a sober house and a halfway house?

However, according to Arcuria, a program that provides voluntary certifications to sober living home operators, some sober living homes are only “sober” in name. Due to a lack of uniform regulation and licensing, some homes are operated by profit-driven individuals who allow drugs and a host of other ills to occur on the premises. Such an environment would be a dangerous place for a person in recovery and could cause considerable trouble with neighbors and the local community. As a next step in our research on SLHs we plan to assess how they are viewed by various stakeholder groups in the community, including house managers, neighbors, treatment professionals, and local government officials.

You’re free to work or go to school while also being held accountable for your recovery. Learn more about drug rehab and sober living and how these services can help you to overcome drug abuse or addiction today. In the legal community, a well-known aphorism is “tough cases make bad law.” However, heartbreaking tragedies can make for good legal changes. Alba Herrera, of New Jersey, would implicitly agree with the latter proposition. In February of 2014, her son overdosed on heroin in her home after he was evicted from a sober living home for relapsing. Alba did not know her son had been evicted due to a relapse because her adult son did not tell her and the rehab center did not notify her.

What Is the Average Length of Stay in Sober Houses

DMHAS certifies sober houses to participate in its Access to
Recovery (ATR) and General Assistance Support Recovery (GA-RSP) programs. To be
certified, a house must sober house agree to meet certain minimum standards and maintain minimum
house rules. Houses that receive rent reimbursement from DMHAS must meet
additional standards.