People who participate in both outpatient addiction care and sober living communities tend to do quite well in sobriety, according to a study in the Journal of Substance Use.1
One of the most significant findings was that people who received this level of care particularly fared well on measures of both addiction and employment. Some even maintained those gains for at least 18 months.
That’s a remarkable achievement, for sure, but some people need a little extra push after they’ve completed both the addiction and sober living program. For the aforementioned, sober living apartments may provide an ideal level of help for future success.
The Apartment Concept
Unlike sober living homes that emphasize a communal style of living, a sober living apartment complex often provides individualized units made for just one or two residents. While there are often shared spaces for recreation, the significant difference is that each person has a specific place to call home. Shared meals, shared chores and shared rooms are really uncommon in a sober living apartment model.
Another advantage of many sober living apartments is the frequency of support group meetings on the grounds. Also lending a communal feel to the living situation, many apartment complexes offer recreational opportunities, such as game nights, for community building. Sober apartments may also have on-site directors available for directing residents toward community resources that could assist with education, employment and legal issues.
- Providing proof of prior treatment
- Submitting to urine screenings on a periodic basis
- Signing a contract that states they will not bring addictive substances onto the premises
- Attending periodic support group meetings held on the grounds of the facility
Breaking these rules could mean expulsion from the community, so it’s imperative for people to understand all the requirements before they choose to move in.
The Value of a Sober Living Apartment
By the time many people transition into sober living apartments, they’ve likely been invested in their sobriety for quite some time. For example, in a study of sober living homes, published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs,2 researchers reported that 76 percent of residents stayed in the home for at least five months. Assuming these people spent at least a month prior in some kind of treatment program, this means that people would have been sober for roughly six months before they might move into a sober apartment.
While that’s a good chunk of time to stay sober, people in recovery still need to change nearly everything about their lives, and going home to the neighborhoods that once fostered their addictions could be, quite simply, dangerous to their recovery.
They might run into influences that reminded them of drugs. Or they might be forced to live in dangerous neighborhoods where substance abuse is commonplace. Conversely, an apartment could be the buffer that allows people to slowly transition out of the culture of addiction treatment into a culture of self-responsibility and accountability. They’ll still have a safe place to live in the interim, but they’ll also be taking on a few more responsibilities for their own sobriety. This might be just the step-down from care that some people need in order to make lasting changes.
To find out more about the sober living apartment model, and to find out if this might be the right kind of intervention for you or for someone you love, please call us. Our compassionate professionals are standing by to help.
Sources
1 Polcin, Douglas L., Korcha, Rachael., Bond, Jason and Galloway, Gantt. “Eighteen-Month Outcomes for Clients Receiving Combined Outpatient Treatment and Sober Living Houses.” Journal of Substance Use, Accessed October 25, 2018.
2 Polcin, Douglas L. “A Model for Sober Housing During Outpatient Treatment.” Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, September 9, 2011.
