Common Sober House Rules At Men’s Sober Homes

As part of the drug recovery process, sober living houses offer recovering addicts a place to get their footing before having to deal with the pressures and strains of everyday life on their own. As men and women often face different types of challenges in recovery, many programs specialize in housing men or women as opposed to “co-ed” living environments.

Sober house rules in men’s sober homes seek to provide recovering addicts with the types of structural supports they’ll need once they go out on their own. While certain similarities may exist between residential rehab and sober homes, residents in sober living are expected to meet certain daily living requirements while being allotted considerably more freedom than those in residential care.

Residents who can successfully abide by sober house rules for the length of their stay have a better chance of coping with life on their own. In effect, sober house rules provide the type of lifestyle training needed to live drug-free for the long-term.

Sober Living Homes

Rules help to keep order and structure in mens sober homes.

Sober living homes must maintain a certain degree of structure and stability in order to provide recovering addicts with a healthy living environment. In turn, sober house rules become the backbone of the sober living experience.

Many people may view sober living homes as functioning in much the same way as halfway houses. While sober living homes and halfway houses may meet somewhat similar needs for those in recovery, sober living homes impose fewer limitations than those found in halfway houses in spite of their use of sober house rules.

Whereas halfway houses impose limits on the amount of time a person can stay, sober living homes allow residents to stay as long as they need to provided they abide by sober house rules.

House Rules

According to the U. S. National Library of Medicine, the Clean and Sober Transitional Living model developed in 1986 sets the standard for sober house rules in men’s homes.

Based on the Clean and Sober Transitional Living model, sober house rules include the following –

• Regular attendance at 12-Step support group meetings
• Regular attendance at the weekly 12-Step support meeting held at the home
• Alcohol and drug use is strictly prohibited
• Finding a sponsor
• Maintain accountability for whereabouts when off the premises
• Sleep at the home a minimum number of nights per week

While sober living homes offer no standardized form of treatment as far as counseling and therapy services go, sober house rules incorporate the 12-Step support group approach as a basis for how residents must conduct themselves during their stay.

Drug Testing Requirements

As sober living homes seek to promote drug-free living environments and lifestyles, drug testing is a standard practice within men’s sober homes. While different homes may assign their own sets of provisions and consequences for violations, most programs require residents who test positive for drugs to leave the program immediately.

Programs may grant leniency in cases where a resident admits to drug use before taking a drug test, however most, if not all programs only allow one relapse episode before terminating a resident altogether.