When it comes to recovery from addiction, one of the most important determining factors for success is an individual’s willingness to accept help. While some find that the process from rehab clinic, to twelve-step meetings and sponsorship is enough to get back in the world and on one’s feet, many recovering addicts simply need more support. It makes all the difference to have a built-in community where everyone involved understands the challenges in making the transition to living “life on life’s terms.”

Our Chicago halfway houses (as well as the sober living homes and recovery facilities), consist of four locations. The routines in place, such as regular and as-needed house meetings, help alleviate fears and anxieties that plague the thoughts of recovering individuals.

Thinking too many steps ahead, for example, is a common pitfall among addicts. Even people who have been sober for decades find that the thought of leaving behind drugs and alcohol for life is too much to consider, and thus the key to recovery comes from the ability to live life “one day at a time.”

A full-time community offering rewards through the support of people struggling with the same issues will reinforce these simple truths of the process:

1. Every single day you live sober is a victory over the disease.
2. It’s perfectly fine to ask for help when you need it.
3. Though it may take time and flexibility in one’s way of thinking, life will begin to seem manageable and joyful sooner than you expect, if you give this simple process that has worked for others a real chance.

It’s never too soon to consider taking the steps to recovery. Please contact us if you have any questions about our program or facilities, or require information about addiction on behalf of a loved one.

Addiction is a terrible disease and both patients and caregivers are looking for solutions to help with recovery. Chicago Sober Living Houses provide an important step in the process.

The Role of Recovery Homes

After an addict has undergone treatment, they still need help transitioning into a sober world. Halfway Houses or Recovery Homes allow addicts to grow and learn in a community that shares their unique struggles, provides respect and support, and establishes an ongoing system of accountability. By building a solid foundation for those recovering from addiction, patients can develop the skills and confidence they need to move forward with their lives.

Key Studies on Sober Living Houses

Addiction studies agree that an alcohol and drug-free living environment is a key factor in recovery. A 2008 study in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs found that after staying in a sober living house, “residents show improvement at 6 month follow up in a variety of areas, including substance use, work, arrests and psychiatric symptoms.” A later 2010 study confirmed these findings and added that “involvement in 12-step groups and characteristics of the social network were strong predictors of outcome, reaffirming the importance of social and environmental factors in recovery.” And in 2015, an article published in Addiction Science & Clinical Practice confirmed that sober living houses were significant to patient recovery and noted that an “increase access to formal services may further enhance outcomes for high-risk populations.”

If you or a loved one needs a caring community in Chicago to help on the journey to recovery, contact Stairway to Freedom.

Relapsing is the constant challenge faced by people recovering from drug or alcohol addiction. Once you leave the rehab center it is often disheartening to realize that all the old urges and problems are still there and still eating away at your resolve. Sobriety and addiction recovery are therefore ongoing processes and the fact that they are long-term commitments makes them all the more daunting.

Because recovery does not end after rehab, aftercare becomes crucial in preventing rehab. Stairway to Freedom’s Halfway Houses in Chicago provide recovering patients with the support and the environment they need to make sobriety stick. Stairway to Freedom provides patients with a safe, supportive environment to fight their addictions in the crucial time right after rehab. Specifically, they help fight an often unaddressed challenge of recovery– loneliness.

Halfway House Community and Aftercare

Recovery is an incredibly lonely road. Very often you are simply on your own. You cannot interact with the people who enabled your addiction. Sometimes the people around you think that rehab is a magical cure, and do not understand the risks of relapse. They do not understand that their offer of “Just one drink,” is a terrible temptation. Even your friends and family do not quite understand your struggles. Their well-meaning offers of help or their advice make matters worse. Recovery becomes linked with isolation and the feeling that you are on your own.

Loneliness and isolation help weaken the resolve attained after rehab. Stairway to Freedom understands this loneliness and instead of leaving a recovering addict to their own devices, it places them in a supportive community of people who understand what the patient is going through. Recovery becomes a peer-based process, where others equally committed t recovery can help you stay honest and disciplined. Recovery becomes a cooperative venture and not an alienating process.

Structure and Surroundings

Of course, the Stairway to Freedom Chicago Sober Living homes are structured environments to help prevent relapse. There are random drug and breathalyzer test and the environment is clean. There are also House Meetings that help you stay on track with your goals.

It is also simply a comfortable place to live with all of the modern amenities for life. A clean and comfortable new environment post-rehab is another overlooked key to success, since the isolation and loneliness of recovery are often made worse by returning to the old environments that encouraged addiction. There is nothing more agonizing than fighting temptation by yourself, in the same old living room or bedroom, alone, at night, when you would have gone out to drink or do drugs.

But recovery does not need to be a difficult and isolated path. Contact us for more on information on how we can help you.

Stairway to Freedom’s Recovery Homes in Chicago are both special places and carefully built systems, so former victims of drug or alcohol addiction build the strong foundation to support their new sober lives. Reentering the same situation in which the addiction developed will not to be successful without new tools and new views. Our recovery homes provide a bridge between detox centers or treatment facilities and the freedom of independent lives.

The homes provide a comfortable place to live, structured and positive, but with clear expectations. First, of course, no drugs or alcohol may be used by residents within or outside of home. While this may seem obvious, it is critically important. At home or in the old neighborhood, there will be people who will believe that a little can’t hurt. Here, people understand addiction and recovery, and respect the daily accomplishment.

Also, there are required meetings each week. Residents, themselves, make decisions about which residents are ready for more freedom. They share plans. Residents are an active part in this community. Having a role in a community builds confidence and the knowledge of self-value. This is crucial in building a non-addict self view. Residents are able to say, “I am not just a recovered addict, I am a person whose voice and ideas matter.”

Third, residents gain independence gradually, as they learn to use the tools needed for an environment full of both freedom and risk. It is important to recognize those steps along the way. Those steps build our clear understanding that every skill we ever have, we built one step at a time.

Please, contact us at Stairway to Freedom with any questions or information you need. We are always ready to provide support, if you are ready to begin this journey.

ALSO READ: Why Recovery Homes Are Critical for Long Term Sobriety