Something that can help you strengthen your sobriety greatly after residential treatment, during intensive outpatient treatment or after complete discharge is sober living. If you believe that your living situation isn’t safe for your life of sobriety, you may strongly consider moving into a sober living home. You might be someone who wonders if sober living homes offer individual counseling to help you in your recovery as well. While sober living homes don’t offer individual counseling, you can still receive counseling as part of your treatment program.
First, it’s important to understand how sober living homes help you with your recovery and why it might be the right option for you. Many people make the mistake of returning home after treatment, and this can be a quick path to relapse. In a sober living home, you’ll have the help and support you need to continue maintaining your sobriety. This may only be temporary as well, so once you get further in your recovery, you may find that it’s time to return home.
Who is Sober Living Right For?
If you’re struggling with an addiction, you may have a laundry list of triggers, and it’s important to understand how these can lead to relapse. Even though you’re going to learn a better way of living while you’re in treatment, early recovery can be challenging. When you’re in the first year of your sobriety, you’re extremely vulnerable to relapse, so you may find it beneficial to move into a sober living home. Some of the most common reasons people make the decision to move into a sober living home can include the following:
- You live with people who still drink or use drugs
- People in your household are verbally or emotionally abusive
- Your neighborhood or home is too triggering
- You don’t have a good support system at home
- You struggle with co-dependency
Sober living homes are homes where all of the residents are people who are trying to stay sober as well. This is a great way to maintain accountability while you begin your recovery journey, and you’ll also see how you can help others. Sober living homes also ensure that you don’t have to worry about drugs or alcohol entering the home. Although the sober living homes are a great way to receive additional support, you may still need to receive counseling.
Counseling While Living in Sober Living
After residential treatment, you’ll typically transfer to an intensive outpatient program or an outpatient program. These programs help provide you with the support of licensed professionals as well as your peers while you transition back into your everyday life. While attending one of these outpatient programs, you may decide that the best way to stay sober is to live in a sober living home. In sober living, you have the freedom to continue going to outpatient treatment, and then you have people who live with you who understand the struggles you’re dealing with as well.
Although outpatient treatment offers counseling, you may not continue going to treatment, but you can still receive your own private counseling. In treatment, you’re going to work with staff members who help you by setting you up with a discharge plan, which may include ongoing counseling. In sober living homes, you can come and go as you please, so you can still get the counseling that you need to help you maintain your sobriety. Sober living also gives you the ability to go back to work or school, so if you only need a minimum amount of counseling, you can still continue with your life and begin getting back on your feet.
Sober Living May Be Temporary
As mentioned earlier, sober living may only be a temporary situation as you begin to build a foundation for your recovery. Sometimes, in early recovery, it can be extremely difficult to move back home because you and your loved ones are still healing. In active addiction, it’s common to hurt the ones you love, so they may need time to heal as well. After living in sober living for a while, you and your loved ones will be in a much healthier place for you to move back home and begin repairing your relationships.
We’re a drug and alcohol treatment center located in Southwest, Florida, and we can help you on your journey of recovery. We offer individual as well as group counseling, and we can help you find the sober living that’s right for you. Give us a call at 844-639-8371 for more information about how we can help.