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Fellowship Hall » Addiction, 12 Steps, Aftercare, Blog, Recovery » Benefits of Sober Living Homes in Sustaining Long-term Recovery

Benefits of Sober Living Homes in Sustaining Long-term Recovery

Getting sober is one of the greatest things you can do for yourself and your well-being. It’s incredibly brave and takes great courage to not only recognize that you have a problem, but to decide to get help for yourself and others in your life. It should be applauded and celebrated that someone is taking this enormous step and choosing to partake in a tough, but important, journey.

However, while anyone who seeks to get sober is strong-willed, it still takes a lot of help, both from their loved ones and medical professionals. Sober living homes are a key part of that journey.

But not everyone is familiar with sober living homes and why they’re important. If you’re thinking about getting sober or pushing someone in your life to seek the help they need, you should know what these homes do and how their guests establish strong habits and community.

Let’s walk through what sober living homes do, why they’re important, some of the key characteristics, and how our two sober living houses at Fellow ship Hall are the perfect place to start your recovery journey. Getting help is an enormous deal—we’re always here to give you anything you need along the way.

 

Benefits Of A Sober Living Home: What Is Sober Living And What Do These Homes Do?

Sober living homes provide environments free from alcohol and drugs where guests can live and start to form healthier habits. People checking in are seeking a path to recovery and get themselves into a better life stage. Here are some of the ways sober living homes help them do that.

Sober Activities: Having Fun In A Sober Living Home

One of the main ways that sober living communities help their residents change their mindset is by facilitating activities that help promote sobriety, build self-awareness and improve one’s health.. Activities like exercise, sports, arts & crafts, games, and volunteering At Fellowship Hall, we recognize how crucial it is to be involved in a variety of activities during your stay.

Living Sober And Building Community: Getting Closer With Those On A Similar Journey With You Is Easier In A Sober Living House

Befriending and getting close with other people in the sober living home is a major part of the experience. If you have people around you that can help you stick to your journey and commit yourself to staying sober, it not only keeps you disciplined, it also makes you happier and in a better emotional state even though you are going through a tough time. Additionally, because you’re going through a transformational time and experiencing sober connections for the first time, these relationships will end up feeling much more meaningful and happier.

Your Sobriety Is A Big Deal — Sober Living Houses Help Keep You Accountable And Connected To Your Journey

When you’re surrounded by other people on a similar journey as you, it helps you stay committed and avoid relapsing. Sobriety and recovery can be hard —it’s absolutely understandable that you’d be tempted to break your journey and return to use. Being around others, communicating with them, and using them to hold you accountable helps you, as well as them, stay committed to recovery and away from temptation.

The Proof Is There: Sober Living Housing Is Shown To Help Not Only Residents, But Their Communities As Well

Studies have shown that sober living homes additionally help better their communities. They lower incarceration rates and decrease substance use, all while increasing employment rates. Drugs and alcohol can lead people down to dangerous areas, poor physical and mental health, and into bad life states that hurt their safety. Programs and sober living facilities can help bring people who are at risk into a supportive environment that helps get them on the right track.

Putting People On The Right Path To A Better Way Of Life

The ultimate benefit of starting your recovery journey at a sober living home is that it perfectly sets you up to assimilate back into everyday life. By seeing what a daily routine in sobriety would look like, in addition to acting it out yourself, you can begin to envision what that looks like on a regular basis. It’s hard to understand what could be when you’ve lived a life saddled by addiction for so long. Acting it out and adjusting to it helps you see the value in this new chapter. In turn, this makes you much more likely to stick to your newfound routine once you enter everyday life again. Only this time, you’ll be a whole new person.

Sober living homes are the absolute best way to put your recovery journey on the right track. Being around others, starting to live a sober life, and getting closer to a life you truly want to live—all with the accountability of community, there’s nothing that can stand in your way.

Let’s dive into what kinds of rules sober living homes commit to. In order to give residents the proper care, attention, and experience, it’s important to make sure things are kept standard and that the structure of their schedules helps them in the long run.

 

Sober Living: The Rules To Follow When Living In A Sobriety House

Sober living homes are successful and beneficial to everyone living there because they adhere by a strict set of rules and conduct expectations. If someone is going from a life run by an addiction where every part of their daily life revolves around satisfying that addiction, then it takes a strict and disciplined lifestyle to be able to rewire the way you think and adopt better habits. This is the best way to set yourself up for success in the real world and live a life free from addiction.

To adopt a whole new lifestyle free from alcohol or drugs, you have to practice living it. Learning and understanding the way to go through your schedule is the key to making it a regular part of your life. So you or a loved one know what to expect, let’s go through some common rules found at sober living homes. Of course, every place is a little bit different, but this is the common code typically followed across the entire community.

Standard Rules To Live By: What Rules To Expect When Living In A Sober Living Home

Here are some of the rules you can expect when living at a sober living facility. Note, all rules are strict and non-negotiable in order so that guests can commit to the process of the house and program.

Attend All Meetings: Meetings are a major part of the sober living process and they’re a mandatory part of most residents’ schedules. This is when you come together, build community with other members of the house. This is crucial, so residents should never miss meetings without a good reason.

Of Course, No Drugs Or Alcohol: This might go without saying, but there can be absolutely no drugs or alcohol in a sober living facility of any kind. If someone were to sneak those drugs or alcohol in, it would totally derail the process and set everyone back. Sober living is about committing to a whole new lifestyle. If you bring something from the past into that environment, it simply won’t work for anyone.

How To Stay Clean And Sober — Stick To Your Routine And Commit To The Work: It’s common in sober living homes to want to relax and take it easy as you adjust to a new life, it’s important to stick to a regular routine and schedule like you would with a job in the real world. Knowing that you have something to accomplish and contribute to the house gives you a new sense of purpose and drive outside of your addiction and helps you with maintaining sobriety. It lets you take pride in something you perform for the community and create discipline for yourself.

Relationships After Sobriety — Respecting Others And Learning To Interact And Contribute To A Community: The social part of sober living homes is crucial for learning how to adjust back to an everyday life that includes other people. Interacting with others in a healthy and supportive way free from drugs and alcohol is an essential part of everyday life. Doing this in a sober living home helps you practice doing this in a smaller, supportive environment. Not only does this help you practice having regular conversations and connections, but it brings you closer to other people living with you in the community and helps you keep up with people after you leave. Connection in recovery serves as protection from relapse and improves mental wellbeing.

Being around others is perhaps the greatest way to stay away from drugs and alcohol and stick to a better path. Not only do they make you more accountable, but having people around you in life that lift you up helps give you a better sense of purpose and cultivates happiness. Passion for living and others is the best way to look out for your mental health.

 

Celebrating Sobriety: Fellowship Hall Has Sober Living Homes That Can Help You Or A Loved One Find A Better Life

Fellowship Hall has two structured sober living houses on campus. They are gender responsive. These are staffed 24/7. Guests who live in these participate in continued services with us, attend daily 12-step meetings, have the opportunity to begin practicing their recovery skills outside of the residential level of care. House meetings, sober activites, meal planning and prep, and other activities of daily life are a chance for guests to connect with one another and other sober people and to build their recovery foundation.

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