Home National Alliance for Recovery Residences

Participants were assessed upon entry to 1 of 49 recovery residences, specifically sober living houses located in California, and completed follow-up interviews 6 and 12 months later. All sober living houses were part of the Sober Living Network, a non-profit organization that implements housing standards for recovery residences across the United States. A quarter of the houses were affiliated with a treatment program and 69% of the houses were single-gender facilities. In conclusion, a recovery residence serves as a vital component of the addiction recovery process, offering individuals a supportive and structured environment to rebuild their lives after addiction. By providing structured support, fostering peer connections, promoting accountability, and offering access to resources, recovery residences empower individuals to embark on sustained sobriety and personal growth.

Building Quality Recovery Housing

• The study tested differences between those using and not using recovery housing using Chi-square, Fisher’s exact, and Student’s t tests.
• In addition to providing needed support to residents, staying in recovery housing also provided respite from worry and reassurance to family members.
• This supporting setting provides a crucial buffer during the early stages of recovery when individuals may be most vulnerable to relapse.
• SAMHSA’s acknowledgement of a home’s importance to recovery has been instrumental in moving the field to recognize the potential of recovery housing.

Despite a growing evidence base for recovery housing, relatively little research has focused on how recovery housing may benefit individuals accessing outpatient substance use treatment. Findings underscore the importance of safe and supportive housing during outpatient substance use treatment as well as the need for future research on how housing environments may affect engagement, retention, and outcomes among individuals accessing outpatient substance use treatment. However, recent attention to unethical practices, such as patient brokering (i.e., entities receiving a fee for referring clients to treatment programs), has discouraged the otherwise beneficial practice of establishing organizational linkages (formal or informal) between recovery housing and treatment providers (Mericle et al., 2019). Clarifying the benefit of recovery housing as an adjunct to outpatient substance use treatment is critical to supporting the full spectrum of addiction treatment and recovery support, and can help to identify ways to prevent the unethical practices that can undermine the impact and efficacy of such programs. Indeed, individuals attending the focus group acknowledged that they needed additional supports that could be provided in a sober living environment. In addition to providing needed support to residents, staying in recovery housing also provided respite from worry and reassurance to family members.

What Support Systems Does Purple Offer in Our Recovery Residence?

Placement in either level of care is dependent primarily on illness severity with other factors considered. Individuals enrolled in day treatment or IOP typically transition into the program from a higher level of SUD care (residential or day treatment) or, due to lower SUD severity at the onset, “step in” to the program as the first level of care. Licensed counselors deliver treatment programming based on Twelve Step Facilitation (Nowinski & Baker, 1992). The program includes motivational interviewing techniques, cognitive behavioral approaches, Alcoholics Anonymous and contingency management methods. The delivery model is group-based, with individual sessions occurring with licensed addiction treatment counselors. Psychology and psychiatry staff, who recognize SUDs as brain diseases that are primary, chronic, and progressive, treat co-occurring mental health disorders, with the goal of treatment being long-term abstinence from alcohol, illicit drugs, and/or misused prescription medications.

The Community as the Patient: How to Promote Community Recovery

The structure of the program and services provided were enhanced by the setting in which they were delivered. Residents talked about being inspired by individuals who had “time in the program” (P003) as well as concrete ways in which residents supported one another. For example, one resident noted that, “I think the way we share with one another about our experiences and what we have learned throughout the day can be really helpful” (P002). This was echoed by another resident who said that, “I sleep well, and we are surrounded by people who care” (P006). Choosing a recovery residence is a pivotal step towards embracing a new chapter in life, one marked by growth, healing, and transformation. Purple Treatment Center’s men’s recovery programs is more than just a place to live; it’s a vibrant community where men are supported on their journey to overcome substance use disorder.

2. Increasing retention in treatment and improving discharge status

• For example, by providing residents with affordable housing, recovery housing can help residents to accrue financial capital.
• Individuals considering recovery residences for themselves or their loved ones are strongly encouraged to inquire about any regulatory organizations with which a potential residence is affiliated and whether or not it is certified in states where certification is available.
• Substance use outcomes were measured via self-reported abstinence in the past 6 months (i.e., abstinence from alcohol, abstinence from other drugs, and overall abstinence from all substances).
• It may be that either these recovery outcomes are a result of specific recovery residence characteristics, or that houses with specific organizational and operating characteristics are more likely to serve particular populations that, in turn, are more likely to obtain employment, remain abstinent, and avoid criminal arrest.

Before delving into why recovery residences are important, it’s essential to understand what they entail. A recovery residence, also known as a sober living home or halfway house, is a supportive living environment designed to provide individuals in recovery from substance abuse with a safe and structured place to reside. These residences offer a supportive community of peers also committed to sobriety, as well as access to resources and services aimed at promoting long-term recovery.

Numerous studies point to the effectiveness of substance use treatment, including outpatient treatment. In a more recent analysis of the evidence base for intensive outpatient treatment (IOP), McCarty and colleagues (McCarty et al., 2014) concluded that, in multiple studies comparing IOP to inpatient or residential care, IOP was as effective as these other types of care for most individuals. In the study that Laudet and colleagues (2009) conducted, two-thirds of the clients who left treatment (67.2%) said that nothing could have been done by the program to keep them engaged in services. Of those who did identify things that the program could have done, the majority identified helping clients access social (food, employment, and housing) services; the next most popular area in need of improvement centered on a desire to have counselors that were more supportive and understanding of their needs. Case management or activities to otherwise access or provide social services are often referred to recovery residence as “ancillary services” (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2018), a name denoting their subordinate status to other clinical services that programs can provide to clients.

While concepts of empathy and therapeutic alliance are commonly taught and well-researched aspects of counseling and other allied professions, these factors may not be the same as truly knowing and understanding what clients are experiencing, particularly in their early recovery. It is important to recognize that these data do not speak to the causality of observed relationships. It may be that either these recovery outcomes are a result of specific recovery residence characteristics, or that houses =https://ecosoberhouse.com/ with specific organizational and operating characteristics are more likely to serve particular populations that, in turn, are more likely to obtain employment, remain abstinent, and avoid criminal arrest. Nonetheless, this study provides an important foundation for future work to further investigate these characteristics and their role in recovery facilitation. NARR utilizes evidence-based standards and ethical guidelines to assist dozens of state affiliates in certifying and managing recovery residences across the continuum of care.

These outcomes include not only substantially better abstinence rates, but also increased rates of employment and lower rates of criminal recidivism. Less is known scientifically about recovery residences apart from Oxford Houses, though existing naturalistic research (where researchers observe naturally-occurring behaviors and measure outcomes over time) shows individuals residing in recovery residences may experience improved substance use and functional outcomes. Also, among recovery residence members, more 12-step mutual-help participation and lower levels of drinking and drug use in one’s social network predict better substance use outcomes and lower likelihood of arrest over time. Residents in the structured sober living residence learned of the opportunity to participate in a focus group about their experiences there in two primary ways. Staff posted a flyer announcing the date, time, and location (a group room at the treatment facility) of the focus group in common areas and distributed the flyer to residents during a house meeting prior to the focus group. Residents who attended for the focus group at the designated time received information about the purpose and nature of the study as well as risks and benefits of participation.

Differences between those using and not using recovery housing were tested using Chi-square, Fisher’s exact, and Student’s t tests. If you are interested in your recovery home being included in the recovery residence registry, please email the HCA recovery residence team. Alcohol abstinence and employment varied according to the Sober Living Network chapter (i.e., geographic region) that the house belonged to. We transcribed the audio recording of the focus group verbatim according to pre-determined conventions (O’Connell & Kowal, 1999) and redacted information that might identify participants.