Going through any type of situation where you or a loved one is looking to stop an addiction to alcohol or some other substance or drug can be a very painful and difficult thing. You need to have the right type of support system in place and the right environment around you in order to deal with the addiction properly so that it can safely and successfully overcome.

There are various options available to you when you are seeking some type of treatment. Among the options many people are considering today include the use of a sober living home/halfway home as a place of residence to help support sobriety efforts after time has been spent at a rehabilitation center.

Defining a Sober Living Home

Sober living homes are not something everyone is familiar with but they do provide an alternative to some rehabilitation centers. A sober living house is a house that acts as a type of group home where addicts can live together. In many cases the homes they are living in are owned privately but there are some that are also owned and run by charitable parties and organizations or other businesses. These homes generally reside in quiet residential areas so that addicts have a chance to live, work and recover in a relatively calm and peaceful place.

A halfway home or sober living home is very different from the traditional rehabilitation centers and facilities that many people choose as a place for recovery. Most rehab facilities have very strict rules and guidelines regarding the freedoms and liberties allowed to the patients at the facility. They also provide with regular and intensive therapeutic experiences as part of the agreement of being at the center.

A sober living house is different in that there are more freedoms when living there. A person residing in one of these homes can come and go without restrictions as long as they adhere to the particular rules of the given house. Many homes do have standard curfew hours that residents must abide by or particular rules governing a need to work.

Typical Rules of a Sober Living Home

There are many typical rules involved when staying at a sober living home. While there may be some variation among the homes depending on the location, most seem to include certain basics that residents are expected to abide by if they want to continue living in the home. Some of the typical riles often include:

• Staying Sober – For all of the halfway homes and sober living houses, the notion of staying sober is of primary importance to everyone who lives there. There is never any drug use or alcohol use that is permitted in the home and many homes even have restrictions on items allowed in the house that may contain any alcohol at all, such as cooking products, cold medicines or mouthwash. These are all items that could be easily abused and used as sources of alcohol. In many cases, violation of this basic rule can result in the resident being asked to leave the premises.
• Home Contributions – For the residents living in the home there is normally an expectation that each resident will contribute in some way to the general upkeep of the home. This usually includes the basic chores of the house being divided up among the residents so that everyone contributes as a part of the household.
• Peer Counseling – While this may not occur in every sober living house, many of the homes do follow along with the often-used twelve step approach to a recovery program and since generally those in the home are at different stages of recovery there is the opportunity for those residents with more time involved in recovery to counsel others who may be newer to the program.