What to Look for in Local Sober Living Homes

You might not be ready to return home right after leaving a rehab program. After detox and inpatient treatment, you could benefit from time in a local sober living home. You can stay local in your hometown, which will help you get readjusted to your everyday life and routines. Not all sober living homes are the same, and knowing what to look for will help you choose the best program to meet your recovery needs.

Do I Need A Sober Living Home?

Your recovery journey might require different interventions than others. Some people need more time to build the life skills to manage triggers successfully, avoid relapse, and create a meaningful life. A local sober living home can be a great way to start life after active treatment for addiction and help you transition back to living in your community.

Ask yourself the following questions to determine if sober living could be the next step of your recovery:

• Do you feel safe and secure in your home environment, or are you at risk of relapsing?
• Do you have a solid support system, or do you feel alone in your recovery?
• Are you still learning healthy lifestyle changes that will help you stay sober?
• Is this your first time in treatment for addiction?
• Have you struggled with addiction for a long time and need more time to adopt healthy recovery habits?

If you are on your way toward recovery but don’t feel secure enough in your skills to get right back to your everyday life without relapsing, then sober living could be the next step in your journey. Ideally, you should be thinking about these things if you are near the end of an inpatient drug and alcohol rehab program. It is critical to know what to look for in local sober living homes if you consider this a treatment option.

What Do Local Sober Living Homes Offer?

Local sober living homes offer an array of services and support to those in recovery. A study in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs states that “Improvements were noted in alcohol and drug use, arrests, psychiatric symptoms and employment” among those in sober living programs. Overall, the best sober living homes will offer three essential components of a successful recovery:

1. Structure:
   • One of the most common relapse triggers is a lack of structure.
   • When you don’t have a structure in your life, you could easily fall back to past behaviors and unhealthy habits.

2. Community:
   • Building a sober community and a support system is critical to success in recovery.
   • Sober living homes offer you a chance to live with other like-minded individuals focused on self-improvement and healthy living.

3. Life Skills:
   • Getting and staying sober requires more than just stopping unhealthy habits like excessive drinking and drug abuse.
   • You can foster healthy life skills within a sober living environment to help you retain essential habits to live a happy and fulfilling life.

Each sober living home offers its unique way of achieving these objectives. However, you should look for specific aspects that will improve your chances of a positive experience in sober living.

How Do Sober Living Homes Differ From One Another?

Not all sober living homes are the same. You want to look for a comprehensive program that is credible and has a track record of successful outcomes. Additionally, you should look for unique aspects of the program to fulfill your treatment needs.

Essential Aspects of a Quality Sober Living Home

• Amenities:
  • Some sober living homes offer the basics — a place to live and accountability to your sobriety with supervision or random testing for drugs or alcohol.
  • Other programs offer an array of additional amenities to help you live comfortably in sober living, such as:
    • Access to activities in the local area
    • A kitchen with space for healthy community meals
    • Games and entertainment to help you and your peers build relationships
    • Outdoor space
    • Exercise facilities and workout equipment

• Certifications:
  • Staff in sober living homes can have a mix of both clinical and life experiences to help you learn to live without drugs and alcohol.
  • A quality sober living program will have trained and certified staff to work with those in recovery.

• Licensing and Accreditation:
  • You want to look for a program licensed by the state or accredited by a qualified organization.
  • Some states considered accreditation as a part of their licensing process.
  • Licensed or accredited programs are held to a higher standard of care than unlicensed programs.

• Programming Within Sober Living:
  • A quality sober living program will offer continued education and support to those in recovery.
  • You should look for a program that focuses on group support, accountability, life skills, and psychoeducation.
  • Where rehab is a place to build a foundation, sober living offers you the space to test your new recovery skills in the real world.

Local Sober Living Homes for Men in Los Angeles

Gender-specific sober living for men can help you transition back to everyday life in recovery without distractions and triggers of your addiction. Miracle House Foundation is a non-profit sober living community that offers quality treatment options for men in Los Angeles, California. Contact us today and start the life that you deserve in sober living.