3 Reasons to Choose Sober Living While in Outpatient Treatment

More often than not, addiction recovery entails a process of healing and growth. For people coming off chronic addiction problems, this process can run for months or even years after their last drug use. Sober living programs pick up where detox, residential and outpatient treatment leave off when it comes to providing ongoing support during the later stages of recovery.

While outpatient programs alone do work well as a form of long-term treatment, the flexibility and freedom afforded through these programs may be too much for someone coming off a severe addiction to handle. Over time, sober living programs prepare a person for the demands of everyday life through his or her day-to-day life experiences in a sober living environment.

Outpatient Treatment Components

Outpatient programs take a fairly flexible approach to drug treatment, making them best suited for people who’ve made considerable progress in recovery or those who enter the treatment process at the early stages of drug use. According to the U. S. National Library of Medicine, sober living programs likewise work best for people who have a solid foundation in the recovery process.

The support gained in a sober house can be beneficial toward your recovery efforts.

Compared to residential care, these programs offer the same types of services without requiring patients to live on the grounds of the facility. Services offered include:

• Group therapy
• Individual psychotherapy
• Drug education and counseling
• 12 Step support groups

3 Reasons to Choose Sober Living Treatment

Structure

Regardless of how severe or mild the addiction problem, returning to a chaotic living environment after completing drug treatment makes it that much harder to maintain abstinence on a day-to-day basis. According to the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, establishing a stable lifestyle is an essential requirement for continued abstinence in recovery. As live-in environments, sober living homes operate according to a rules structure that works to instill stability within a person’s everyday life.

Supports

While outpatient treatment programs do a good job at addressing the types of issues recovering addicts face, people coming off chronic addiction problems must contend with intense drug-using urges on a continuous basis. Under these conditions, the supports afforded through sober living can make all the difference. Herein lies one of the most valuable benefits of a sober living environment in that the residents in a home become a type of community that’s focused on drug-free living.

Accountability

Unlike residential treatment programs, residents in sober living homes are expected to maintain employment, and for the most part carry out the affairs of everyday living. Residents must also perform household chores, pay monthly rent and follow nightly curfew requirements. Ultimately, these requirements enable a person to develop the type of accountability that makes transitioning back into the “real” world that much easier.

Considerations

While it may not be apparent at the start, addiction recovery has more to do with developing a drug-free lifestyle than overcoming the physical effects of drug abuse. This task becomes more so difficult the more severe the addiction problem. Sober living homes provide you with the type of “real world” training that best equips you for handling the daily stressors and responsibilities of everyday life on a drug-free basis.

If you or someone you know is considering sober living and have more questions, please feel free to call our toll-free helpline at 800-953-3913 (Who Answers?) to speak with one of our addictions specialist.

Do Sober Houses Ever Work With Outpatient Centers?