Making the decision to participate in a sober living arrangement is one of the best decisions that you can make for your recovery. One of the biggest mistakes people make after going through residential treatment is moving right back home. For many people, moving back home is too much, too soon, and it leads to relapse. Addiction is such a powerful disease that it takes time and support to truly recover and develop a strong foundation.
Sober living gives you the opportunity to create a very strong base for your recovery by providing structure and security. Learning about addiction and triggers is helpful, but it’s much harder when you face them in the real world. Sober homes provide you with a safety net and a support group to help you through very difficult times. There are also different environmental factors that you’ll have protection from while living in a sober home.
Should I Enter Sober Living?
It’s important to work closely with your treatment team while you’re going through the residential program. They say that the essentials in early recovery are honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness, and it all starts with honesty. During your stay in residential treatment, you must work with clinicians by being honest about your environment back home. Only then will you be able to get suggestions about what the best plan of action is post-discharge.
Your environment plays a big role in your addiction, and it plays an even bigger role in your recovery. It’s important to let the clinical team know what your concerns are about going back home so they can help. If going back home seems like a quick path back to drugs or alcohol, then sober living is the right option for you. This may seem difficult depending on your personal situation, but your recovery must come first if you want to stay clean and sober.
Hopefully during your treatment stay, you’ll discover if your home life is toxic or will have a negative impact on your recovery. It takes honesty and self-reflection to see that possible impact. Many people believe the best place for an ex-drug user is home. The reality is that if it’s important for your recovery, your loved ones will support you in going to sober living.
Here are some reasons why you should go to a sober living arrangement after treatment:
- Someone in the home still drinks or uses drugs.
- You have relationship problems with someone in the home (spouse, parents, siblings, etc.).
- You still have a strong obsession and cravings to drink or use.
- You live in a neighborhood with many triggers.
- You and your family struggle with co-dependency issues.
The Structure at a Sober Living
These types of homes are a great form of relapse prevention because they provide you with structure. Many people in their addiction have been living a life of self-will, and it typically doesn’t have good results. These homes have strict rules and guidelines, but it’s important to realize that they are to benefit your recovery. Think back to the way you were living before you got sober and if your life was unmanageable. Sober living insists that your life be manageable.
In some sober living homes, you may have to wake up by a certain time or have a curfew. In some homes, you may have different chores as well. This may seem like something that would hurt your pride or ego, but it’s very important in rehabilitation. Many people in active addiction forget how to live, and some responsibility helps you create good new habits.
There are sober homes that require each person living in the house to attend outpatient programs or 12-step program meetings. This is very beneficial because many people who just go back home after treatment forget about what it takes to stay sober. These homes make this a requirement because they know it will help you continue to progress in your recovery. Rather than going back to your old way of living by sitting around, you’ll continue to make your recovery even stronger.
Sober Living Provides a Safe Environment
These homes have a manager who has the job of enforcing rules and guidelines while also providing you with support. The golden rule of any sober living home is that no alcohol or drugs come inside, and this is important. These homes also randomly conduct drug tests and breathalyzers in the home to ensure people stay sober. For someone in early recovery, knowing someone in a sober home is drunk or high can be a very big trigger.
Having a sober home manager is extremely beneficial because there is someone who is enforcing the rules, which you don’t have at home. There are some people who think that moving in with other sober people is the same as any other roommate living arrangement. It’s not. Imagine signing a lease with roommates, and one or more of them relapse within the first couple months. This would put you in a very difficult situation and provide temptation, which you don’t go through at a sober living home.
Having a Support Group for Relapse Prevention
Something that’s important to realize in your recovery is who is your support group. For example, your family and friends may be supportive, but they aren’t your support group. Much like in your addiction, people who aren’t in recovery from addiction don’t understand what you’re going through. By being around others who understand what you’re going through, you’ll get immediate and constant support.
While this may not seem like a big deal, remember that this is the philosophy that has been helping people for nearly 100 years. Alcoholics Anonymous found that one person in recovery talking with another is without parallel. As you’ve probably seen for yourself in treatment, you connect extremely well with people trying to stay sober. This is because you understand one another and the feelings you’ve felt and situations you’ve been through.
Whether you’re dealing with issues with your loved ones, spouse, children or work, you will have people to talk to. Throughout your stay in a sober living home, you’ll see that you’re never alone when dealing with your problems. There will always be someone there for you who is more than willing to lend a listening ear.
Starting Your Journey in Treatment
Healing Springs Ranch is the ideal facility for you to begin your recovery journey, and we have exactly what you need. We have a unique treatment model that focuses on you as a whole person with our very own Integrated Addiction Model (I.AM). This helps your mind, body, and soul recover through various types of educational and experiential treatment methods. You’ll have an introduction to holistic approaches as well as lifestyle training and various other recovery support groups.
Here at HSR, you’ll have individualized treatment, which is very important because each person is unique in their addictions and root issues. After a thorough assessment, we will find out together which types of programs will work best to support your recovery. As you progress in the program, we’ll help you switch gears, perhaps to a sober living home that we can arrange. Don’t suffer another day. Give us a call now at 866-656-8384.