Beginning the lifelong journey into recovery requires a commitment to not only functioning without the influence of drugs or alcohol in daily living, but also the dedication to change almost everything once familiar to you in your old lifestyle. It can be an absolute struggle to be approached one day at a time – sometimes even one hour at a time.

One change involves people, friends, associates – even family members – if you drank and used with them – it’s time to change the dynamics of that relationship. This may include distancing yourself from those people. Transitioning from substance abuse treatment to a women’s sober living house is often a suggested approach to provide the newly clean woman a chance to live on her own with other females, who are in the same situation.

Women’s sober living homes provide several benefits that are unavailable at your old residence or in your previous community. One benefit is Accountability, which is key to successfully embracing your new recovery lifestyle. This means answering to the people you live with – who see you every day. Your “housemates” sharing living space will get to know you and having the common goal of maintaining sobriety – will allow them to hold you accountable (and you them) for honesty, reliability, meetings, chores, curfew, appointments etc.

“Accountability is fundamental basic tenet for the recovering addict,” according to a research report focusing on substance use in women published by drugabuse.gov.

To learn more about how women’s sober living homes can help you to transition to the next phase in your recovery, please contact us today.

The decision to get sober is one that can be made quickly. Staying clean and sober however is a time-consuming process that requires an honest commitment and significant work. Recovery is indisputably a life-long journey.

Once an addict has completed a treatment program, which frequently involves going inpatient for one to six months or maybe more, one of their next goals is following the relapse prevention plan they developed with their counselor in treatment. Preventing relapse and achieving this particular goal can be an uphill battle if they do not take it seriously and adhere to the rules established to reduce opportunity for temptations to creep in and steal their sobriety. 

Every addict has differing scenarios that they identify as high risk for their recovery. However there is a common, underlying theme of changing “people, places and things,” which were familiar to the individual during their active addiction. As they prepare to leave treatment, where they have been safely secluded from past allures of drugs and alcohol, as well as stressors of daily life in the outside world, they must make their first big decision in sobriety. This is where are they going to live?

Chicago halfway houses can help to remove some basic risk factors associated with returning to their old residence in that familiar neighborhood where they are surrounded by friends who drink and they know exactly who to call and where to go to get drugs. This is one reason substance abuse counselors often recommend considering moving into a Halfway House as a transition from treatment to real life in order to help prevent relapse. 

This transition phase is critical to relapse prevention as a recovery home offers a degree of protection from outside temptations, as well as structure, support and a safe place to call “home,” if only for a few months. Some recovering addicts embrace this option as they have invested significant time and rigorous work in healing themselves during treatment and honestly know what going home right now will do to their life. Yet others do not have a “home” to go and they view a halfway house as continuing treatment to help them help themselves.

If you want to learn more about how Chicago halfway houses can help prevent relapse, please contact us today.

Living in a halfway house for the first time can be intimidating. However, a good sober living house can make it easier for you to stick to your goals of staying sober. Below there are a few tips that can help you live happily and healthily in a halfway house.

1. Learn — and Follow — the Rules

First of all, you should know that many halfway houses have rules in place for the safety and well-being of everyone who lives in them. For example, there might be a curfew in place and a rule about not having visitors. Make sure that you learn the rules of your halfway house and you follow them.

2. Make the Most of Your Support System

A great part about living in a halfway house in Chicago is that you will be surrounded by others who have been through the same things that you have been through. This means that you should make the most of this support system to help you stay sober. You may also be given information about meetings and counselors which can help you stay on the right track.

3. Seek Treatment if You Fear You Will Relapse

If you feel like you are at risk of relapsing, don’t just wait around and let it happen. You could lose the fruits of your hard work and determination and your spot in the halfway house. Seek help as soon as possible if you think that you are heading down the wrong path.

Living in a halfway house can be the best option if you want to continue to stay sober. If you need help finding a halfway house that is comfortable, safe and affordable, contact us so that we can talk to you about our options for both men and women.

How many people are always honest about everything? It’s probably not unfair to assume that very few people are always honest. As you begin your recovery journey, it’s doubtful that the concept of brutal honesty is entirely foreign to you. Many people learn about the importance of honesty in an addiction treatment program. Or if you have been to more than one 12 step meeting, chances are fairly good you have heard someone say “honesty in all of our affairs,” a common slogan.

Maybe you dismissed the idea of always telling the truth, since obviously if you were not honest, you would not have admitted you are an addict. Right? So how many more truths are there to tell? Or how about how many more lies can you tell?

That answer is infinite for addicts. There is no end to the number of lies someone in active addiction is capable of telling.  When we are using, the untruths roll off our lips without a second thought. We may forget the first lie we told, however, we will not hesitate to tell another lie to cover up the first one and so on and so on.

We unintentionally created a life built on layers of lies that multiplied over time until we actually may have begun to believe our own stories. If you got to the point that you were unable to decipher fact from fiction in your own life, you are not alone. As our addiction takes over our life, we try to compensate for our shortcomings by making up excuses – repeatedly. Although it is an almost unconscious effort, we develop into expert liars.

Addicts are intentionally manipulative, deceitful, compulsive story-tellers, who spit out lies that sound amazingly true – at least in the beginning. As our disease progresses and our bodies get weaker, our minds stop learning anything positive or productive and without knowing it, we begin to lose our persuasive ability to create convincing tales that cover up consequences of our addiction.

Honesty is the foundation of successful recovery. It unquestionably takes time to stop lying altogether, as not telling the truth became “normal” for us during active addiction. Always being honest presents a formidable challenge that requires our diligence to achieve completely. Do not worry if you catch yourself stretching the truth. That does not signify failure, as long as you fix it going forward. Like everything else you do to maintain your sobriety, set out to accomplish this goal of being truthful one day at a time.

To find halfway houses in Chicago that will provide the support you need as you embrace this phase of your recovery, please contact us today.