Halfway houses are sober living communities that allow residents a greater degree of freedom than they had in detox. They perform regular drug testing on residents, provide counseling services, and generally maintain a calm, recovery type atmosphere that gives you access to community resources while you’re in your first year or two of recovery. How do halfway houses work? When are they your best option?
If someone has become homeless, lost their job, or has no access to food, it can make recovery from drug and alcohol almost impossible. For people who have hit bottom, halfway houses are almost always a good idea. Not only do you get continuing treatment for your addiction on a 24 hour a day basis, but you have access to community resources that can help you get back on your feet. In addition, halfway houses are a great idea for anyone who believes that they will relapse if they don’t have continuing care.
In the Beginning
In early recovery, the quality of sobriety you experience may be shaky, and this is especially true if you don’t have a strong support network or housing, food, or a job. You need all of those things to build a quality sobriety, and halfway houses provide all of those right out of the gates. Halfway houses have an entire staff of people who are trained to help you rebuild your life, both emotionally and physically. Many times when someone first gets sober from a severe addiction, they have no job, no home, and no food. Each one of those things are provided for in a halfway house.
In the early stages in a halfway house, though, you’ll very likely have your days to yourself except for counseling sessions and group meetings. You’ll be free to get to know other people in the halfway house and form solid peer support networks that help you recover. Recovering clients in halfway houses are among the most dedicated to sobriety. They take it seriously, and they share their experiences with you. Residents who have been there longer can help you through all the phases in the halfway house.
Rebuilding with Serenity
Recovery is about maintaining serenity even in the face of obstacles. In the early days in a halfway house, you’ll focus on group and individual counseling sessions, but later on you’ll benefit from employment services and social workers. They can help you apply for government benefits if you’re disabled, tackle any financial issues you might have, and even help you get a job when you’re to that phase in the program that you’re allowed to work on the outside again.
It’s much easier to have serenity when you know that the people you’re sharing a home with are sober and won’t trigger thoughts of using. That’s the hallmark of the halfway house. It’s a sober community of people who have their eye on quality sobriety, not just sobriety alone. They work daily, just like you, to maintain their serenity even as they face obstacles in recovery, and they can share that helpful knowledge with you.
Does it Work?
As they say in some programs, it works if you work at it. Your state of mind in the halfway house will play a large part in whether or not things work. If you have co-existing mental health issues, be honest about that with counselors so that they can work on that part of your recovery, too. If you have physical challenges, make sure that the people in charge are aware of it so that they can help make your life easier. You’ll find that the caring, compassionate staff of a halfway house want to help in any way they can. Each one of those people is working for you. If you work well with them, you can achieve great things.
Rebuilding your life after addiction is frustrating and challenging, but halfway houses make it so much easier. Anyone who has a limited network of support or who finds that they don’t have the financial resources to rebuild their lives from scratch will benefit from entering a halfway house instead of the regular community. Your recovery is yours. A halfway house can help make it better and permanent.
If you think a halfway house can help you recover, we can help. When you’re ready, just call us at 844-639-8371. Our friendly and compassionate team is always standing by ready to make sure that you have access to resources you might need to stay well.