More often than not, inpatient rehab is just a first step in the recovery process. Even when drug use stops, the thinking and behavior that drive addiction can threaten your recovery efforts. Under these conditions, there’s a critical need for some form of ongoing sober living therapy. A sober living environment not only offers different forms of therapy but is an ideal setting for adjusting to the demands of everyday life. Sober living homes are live-in facilities that act as a bridge between the structure provided in inpatient rehab and living drug-free on your own. These environments equip you with the level of 24-hour support and guidance needed to manage the challenges you’ll encounter in the “real world” in healthy ways. Sober homes are safe environments that provide ongoing sober living therapy in different ways. Keep reading to learn about the different levels of therapy support a sober living environment has to offer.
What Is Sober Living Therapy?
Sober living therapy encompasses a range of different interventions, each of which is designed to help you deal with different aspects of addiction in daily life. Whereas standard therapy approaches, such as individual and group therapies are typically offered in a sober living home, the day-in, day-out training provided in these environments holds the real value as far as sober living therapy is concerned. There’s always someone to talk to in a sober home environment, be it a counselor or another resident. Being able to talk to someone when the urge to use seems overwhelming can mean the difference between keeping your sobriety and relapsing. Likewise, residents in a sober living home all share the same goal, which can be a tremendous source of support and incentive to focus on recovery. In essence, the overall effect of sober living therapy “trains” you to make the types of day-to-day choices that support a drug-free lifestyle.
The Sober Living Environment
Adjusting back to normal life after rehab can be jarring, to say the least. This is especially true when needed supports are lacking. A sober living home makes adjusting to daily life seem like less of a free-fall. Inpatient rehab environments provide intensive structure in the form of strict rules that are designed to keep you focused on your recovery. This structure not only keeps you from using but also facilitates healthy thinking and behavior. When these supports are removed, the risk of relapse increases dramatically in the absence of additional, ongoing supports. A sober living environment enables you to apply the coping skills learned in rehab in the “real world” while also having access to ongoing treatment supports. In this respect, day-to-day life in a sober living environment is an ongoing form of sober living therapy. A sober living home also provides the level of structure and support needed to keep you focused on recovery, including:
- Curfews
- Employment requirements
- Household responsibilities
- Regular 12-Step meeting attendance
- Obtaining a sponsor
Sober Living Therapy Objectives
Choosing to live a drug-free lifestyle means making the types of choices that make drug-free living possible. These choices have to do with how you manage your relationships, your daily responsibilities, your behaviors and also the types of things you choose to think about. For these reasons, creating a treatment plan with your counselor is one of the first things you’ll do when entering a sober living home. A treatment plan is essentially a relapse prevention strategy that helps you identify triggers that entice you to use. It also lays out daily coping strategies that help you overcome drug-using urges and keep you focused on recovery. Coping strategies can vary depending on your particular preferences and your particular needs. Examples of coping strategies include:
- Attending 12-Step support meetings
- Keeping a daily journal
- Daily contact with your sponsor
The absence of needed treatment supports is one of the biggest reasons why drug and alcohol relapse rates run so high. Even after the effects of the drug have left your system, the thinking and behavior patterns that drive drug-use are still present. When left to their own devices, these patterns will lead you right back into a drug-using lifestyle. The combined effects of living in a supportive home environment and following a personalized treatment plan provide you with the level of training needed to lead a normal, drug-free life when it comes time to go out on your own. This is sober living therapy, 24 hours at day, at its best. If you’re ready to get started or have any questions, we can help. Call us today at 844-639-8371.