BENEFITS/SERVICES
Although they aren’t an addiction treatment requirement, sober living homes serve a purpose. They’re here to help those who have just finished rehab transition back into the real world.
When you attend rehab, you receive various treatments, therapy, assistance, and supervision to help you become sober. During addiction treatment, you’re also often separated from the rest of the world so you can focus on your recovery. As a result, going back to a world that’s filled with temptations can appear like an impossible feat.
The struggle that many people have remaining sober after leaving addiction treatment is what causes them to relapse. While there is no perfect treatment combination that can prevent relapse, there are certain things that you can do to decrease the chances that relapse will occur. One of those things is transitioning from addiction treatment into the real world at your own pace. Staying at a sober living home after rehab is one of the best ways to do that.
Sober living homes are one of the best ways to prevent relapse after addiction treatment for many reasons. You could even argue that the benefits and services that sober living homes provide those in addiction recovery are incomparable to any aftercare service.
BENEFITS OF SOBER LIVING HOMES
There are numerous benefits to sober living homes.
Just check out the list of benefits that sober living homes provide those in recovery below:
GUIDANCE AND SUPPORT
Sober living homes provide a great support system for people who are overcoming addiction. One way that sober living homes provide support to their residents is through their on-site managers.
On-site sober living home managers are there 24/7 to help you. They can help you if you’re struggling with cravings, finding a job, or adjusting to the world after treatment. Sober living home managers are like parents that you can turn to for assistance if you ever need anything. The managers act as a safety net as you venture back into life outside of treatment. By having this safety net, you’re giving yourself just enough support and guidance to ensure that if you ever fall after treatment, you‘ll have the ability to get back up again without losing your sobriety.
On-site managers aren’t the only people that provide those in recovery with support and guidance while in a sober home. There are also house managers and staff members that are there to help hold you accountable for your actions.
To hold you accountable for your sobriety, all sober homes contain a set of rules that all residents must follow. Some of these rules usually include not allowing any alcohol or drugs on-site, a curfew, and random drug testing.
If residents don’t comply with the guidelines at a sober living home, they may no longer be able to live there. Therefore, you must maintain accountability for your addiction and your real-world responsibilities while simultaneously receiving support. Doing so will help make maintaining your responsibilities while remaining sober easier. This is especially true once the support of the sober living home is gone.
RELATIONSHIPS
When living as a resident in a sober living community, there are other people in recovery living within the community as well. Therefore, you and your fellow residents can lean on one another whenever you feel tempted to relapse.
Many people in recovery have to cut ties with certain family members and friends. While in recovery, many individuals may also end relationships with people who continued to have a negative influence on them. Because of all the people addicts cut out of their lives, bonding with other people that are in addiction recovery while staying in a sober living community is beneficial.
NEW LIFE SKILLS
When you’re a resident at a sober living home, you must obtain a job. You may also need to perform some daily chores. By providing you with such responsibilities, sober living homes are allowing you to restore old life skills. These restored life skills will help you function in the real world.
Other things that residents at sober living homes are expected to do while living there include exercise, eat healthy, and maintain personal hygiene. By keeping up with these responsibilities, you will be better prepared to maintain a healthy lifestyle when you return back to your normal life.
INDEPENDENCE
You receive much more independence while in a sober living home than you do while in addiction treatment. This is because you’re allowed to leave the facility and do things like go to the store while in a sober living home. While in a sober living home, you’re also able to get a job.
Essentially, living in a sober living home is like living in the real world but with extra support. Once you become independent enough to take on most of life’s responsibilities, you’re ready to live life on your own in the real world.
REDUCED RISK OF RELAPSE
When you live in a sober living home, your chances of relapsing reduce significantly. This is because living at a sober living home allows you to operate in the real world as a normal individual while still receiving aftercare treatment and support from your community of other people in recovery at home.
As a result, staying in a sober living home after receiving addiction treatment takes away the overwhelming nature that entering the real world would normally have right after attending treatment. Because you’re not overwhelmed when entering the real world after staying in a sober living home, your chances of relapsing will reduce.
AN EASIER TRANSITION
Sober home living and normal life are not too different from one another. If anything, the difference is way more similar than that of addiction treatment and normal life. Therefore, the transition to normal life from living in a sober living home is much easier than from addiction treatment. By allowing an easier transition into the real world, staying in a sober living home after treatment reduces the chance of you relapsing.
MONROE STREET HOUSING SERVICES
Monroe Street Housing offers numerous services for you to use when staying in their sober living homes.
To learn about these services, read the sections below.
24/7 MEDICAL AND CLINICAL SERVICES
One resource that Monroe Street Housing specifically offers as a sober housing community is 24/7 medical and clinical services. These services are particularly beneficial to members that just finished medication-assisted treatment. This is because their medications are locked away and in constant medical supervision.
VISIBLE RECOVERY ALUMNI PROGRAM
Another resource that Monroe Street Housing offers is an alumni association. The name of this alumni association is Visible Recovery. If you leave Monroe Housing and become a member of Visible Recovery, you’ll meet up with other fellow former Monroe Housing residents in real-world social spaces throughout central Indiana. Therefore, you will visibly exhibit your recovery in the real world. Hence, the title of the Monroe Housing Alumni Program.
SPIRIT-CENTRIC 12-STEP PROGRAMS
At Monroe Housing our programs are 12-step-focused. Therefore, all our programs and support groups utilize beliefs and actions that awaken and treat the spirit. This means that we utilize moral and spiritual practices. Examples of these include meditation, looking towards a higher power, and practicing gratitude. By having support groups that are spirit-focused we aim to treat the mind, body, and soul of addiction. Doing so will lead to long-term sobriety.
2-PHASED SYSTEM TREATMENT
The treatment programs at Monroe Housing are 2 phased. This means that our members must go through multiple steps to complete all of our programs. By providing a 2 phased system program, we are ensuring that our members are doing everything that they can while in the transition to lead successful sober lives later on in the real world.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING
At Monroe Street Housing, we provide education services for all of our members through vocational training. Vocational training is an education that will provide you with skills that you can use to obtain a job or perform a practical service in the real world. By providing vocational training, we are increasing the chances that you will find work during or after your stay at our housing community.
TRANSPORTATION
We offer transportation to interviews for our residents who need it. This can help you in your job hunt. We also offer transportation services to local aftercare meetings.
MEALS
We provide meals for our members. This means less cooking that you have to do on your own. We also make sure that you’re eating a balanced diet. This is because, at Monroe Housing, we know how important it is to eat well and take care of yourself. The better you take care of yourself, the better your body will feel, and the less likely that you will turn to substances to feel better about yourself later on.
CO-ED FACILITY
Monroe Street Housing is a co-ed housing community. This means that both men and women can live here. This also means that you get to learn ways to better manage your addiction through the male and female perspective. If you are someone that likes to get multiple perspectives on a situation, a co-ed sober housing community might b for you.
MONROE STREET HOUSING IS HERE TO SERVE YOU
Here at Monroe Street Housing, we strive to provide you with all the services that you need to have the smoothest transition possible into the real world. Through our services, not only will you have a smooth transition into the real world after treatment, but you’ll also gain the guidance and support, relationships, life skills, independence, and relapse prevention treatment that you’ll need to maintain sobriety long-term. To learn more about Monroe Street Housing and the services that we provide, contact us today.
