What Is the Main Goal of a Sober Living Environment?

So, you just completed your stint in rehab. You likely feel pretty good physically. With that said, is it possible you are feeling a little apprehensive about resuming responsibility for the life you left behind to get treatment?

Before you become overly concerned about feeling that way, you need to know those kinds of feelings and thoughts are quite normal. Rehab was never really intended to solve all the problems in your life. What rehab is all about is helping addiction sufferers get past their addiction while learning how to better manage their lives. Hopefully, you have gotten at least that much and maybe more from treatment.

Now, you do need to contemplate heading back out into the world and getting on with your life without leaning on drugs and alcohol. If you are still feeling a little shaky about facing your past and responsibilities in one fell swoop, you might want to consider spending some time in a sober living home. Why? In the sections below, we will discuss the main goal of sober living and how your time in that kind of environment will can help you become the person you want to be.

What Is the Main Goal of a Sober Living Environment?

While sober living exists for several different reasons, there really is one primary main goal of the sober living process. It provides the recovering addict with a bridge between the time they spend in rehab and the time it’s going to take them to adjust to real life without taking drugs and alcohol. It really is that simple.

As simple as that may be, it a vital function. You see, a lot of people enter rehab with mounds of destruction laying in their wake. While in rehab, the client has to focus on battling their demons and establishing a strong recovery. It doesn’t leave much time to address the destruction left behind. If the client leaves rehab and heads straight back to the issues they left behind, it might be overwhelming. The last thing someone in recovery needs is more stress than they can handle. That’s a formula for chronic relapses.

Sober living allows the person in recovery to take baby steps towards returning to normal life. They can slowly address mending issues at work, improving damaged relationships and reestablishing some level of financial stability. It’s amazing how much a person can improve their stability with just an extra month or two to get their sober legs under them.

To better understand the value of sober living, a description of what sober living is like should shine some light on the process.

Rebuilding Structure in One’s Life

One of the things sober living does is give residents a chance to rebuild some structure in their lives. That usually means learning to be responsible again. In a sober living home, everyone is required to follow rules. These rules are in place to ensure the facility remains a safe haven for people in recovery while giving each resident a chance to understand the importance of having a structure in their life. Some of the most common rules include:

  • Handling assigned chores on a timely basis
  • Attending recovery programs as scheduled
  • Submitting to random drug testing
  • Learning to live and play well with other residents
  • Making strides towards independence

Developing Support Resources

In sober living homes, almost all if not all residents are required to attend counseling and/or 12 step meetings. This requirement is in place to ensure all residents remain focused on strengthening their resolve to stay sober. The time each resident spends in meetings and with other residents is an opportunity to build support resources for the future. Support in recovery is important because sobriety is a tough road to travel alone.

Time to Make Decisions

While in rehab, a lot of clients begin to realize they need to make big changes in their lives. There’s usually a little time in rehab to start thinking about the future, but things do get hectic. A sober living environment gives each resident time to think about things like eliminating harmful relationships, building new ones, relocating to safer environments and making career changes. They can do these things with minimal stress in a sober living environment

Through all the years of treating clients, our therapists pretty much agree that sober living is a very useful step in the recovery process. Of course, before you start thinking about sober living, you need to deal with your addiction. That’s where we can help. For more information, please contact us at 844-639-8371.

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