Life is full of steppingstones – both big and small – to get you to where you want to go. For example, an internship is a steppingstone between college and a full-time career. The internship lets young professionals get their feet wet in the real world before diving into a full-time job after graduation.
Similar to an internship, a sober living house serves as a steppingstone to give people in addiction recovery a taste of the real world again before returning to it after treatment. At The Raleigh House, we offer sober living as part of our gold standard continuum of care because it offers you ways to transition back to everyday life you may not have thought about before.
5 Key Ways Sober Living Helps You Return to Everyday Life
It’s not uncommon for people to struggle with everyday life after addiction rehab because they didn’t take into account all the responsibilities and little tasks they’d have to learn how to manage again at home.
That’s why it’s crucial to attend a treatment center that offers a step-down approach to care with sober living as the final step before returning home. Staying at a sober living home after residential treatment can help you in the following ways:
1. You Can Learn How to Manage Daily Chores
Did laundry, house cleaning, home maintenance and other chores make you want to grab a beer or get high? It’s not easy returning to these daily activities after addiction treatment if you don’t know how to manage them efficiently. At a sober living house, you and your housemates will be responsible for chores like these. This practice will help you learn how to manage them at home without getting stressed out or overwhelmed.
2. You Have the Time to Learn How to Properly Grocery Shop
When you’re addicted to alcohol or drug use, everything else takes a back seat. This includes a healthy diet that was probably replaced with fast food, caffeine and sugar products. During residential and outpatient treatment, you’ll learn how to eat a pro-recovery diet designed to give you the vitamins and nutrients your body and mind need. During your time at a sober living house, you’ll be able to practice grocery shopping for healthy foods and meal prepping – tasks you’ll need to be able to do at home in order to maintain your sobriety.
3. You Have a Safe Space to Build Healthy Friendships
Rebuilding relationships is a key part of addiction treatment and recovery. Unfortunately, this can be difficult to do if you have family members and friends who were hurt by your addiction. At a sober living house, you’ll be able to practice your relationship-building skills with your housemates. This practice can give you the confidence to fix your personal relationships. Plus, these new friendships can replace toxic ones from your old life that are not good for your long-term recovery.
4. You Have the Ability to Search for New Jobs or Return to School
Maybe it was the pressure of your job that triggered your substance abuse, or perhaps you want to change your career path to something you’re actually passionate about and will enjoy. Living at a sober living house gives you the time to fix up your resume, apply and interview for new jobs, and enroll at a college or in an online class. These activities can be stressful, so doing them while at a sober living house gives you purpose and a support network to work through the stress in a healthy, productive way instead of relapsing.
5. You Can Make Relapse Prevention Part of Your Regular Routine
In residential and outpatient treatment, you learned relapse prevention skills and healthy practices like yoga and meal prepping. Your time at a sober living house gives you the opportunity to practice and perfect these new skills and techniques, so that they naturally flow into your everyday routine when you move back home. By setting a new, relapse-prevention routine at a sober living house, you’ll be used to going to the gym every day, preparing and eating healthy meals, and participating in regular recovery meetings.
Get Effective Addiction Treatment at The Raleigh House
At The Raleigh House, we have over 10 years of experience providing evidence-based and holistic addiction and dual diagnosis treatment. In those 10 years, we’ve learned that the most effective approach to rehab is a continuum of care that truly gives people like you the time, space and patience to develop new, healthy habits and a sober lifestyle they can maintain long-term.
Our continuum of care includes private and peaceful detox services, personalized and hands-on residential treatment and outpatient treatment that you can commute to from a sober living house or from home, or that you can attend virtually. Our approach to treatment is a gold standard of care designed to help you truly transform your life after addiction.
To learn more about our addiction treatment approach, fill out our form or contact us today.
