Getting sober is a process that often starts in treatment, but it continues on long after you leave. You need to recover physically, mentally, and emotionally from the ravages of addiction. You have to learn, each day, how to navigate the ups and downs of life without the use of substances to cope.

Relapse doesn’t have to be a part of the process, but sometimes it is. Relapse often happens in the first weeks and months of recovery, although it can still happen years after getting sober. This is why continued recovery support and vigilance is so crucial—and why it’s so important to understand how your mental health can impact your ongoing sobriety.

What Causes Relapse?

There are a lot of individual factors that contribute to relapse. Often, it’s a lack of support or spending time with people who use. However, in many cases, relapse is a direct result of unaddressed mental health issues.

Mental illness and addiction often go hand in hand. Studies show that nearly 50 percent of those struggling with addiction also have a mental illness. Examples may include depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD, or trauma.

Which Comes First?

It depends. For some, the symptoms of mental illness were present before the substance abuse. For others, the mental illness came after the substance use. Either way, substance use is often an attempt to alleviate the symptoms of mental illness. The problem is that, over time, substances only make symptoms worse and more frequent.

Why is Recovering From Both Disorders so Difficult?

The person who is diagnosed with both addiction and mental illness is said to have a co-occurring disorder. This means that they are battling two illnesses and need help for both of them.

In the past, this rarely happened. Addiction treatment centers were only interested in solving the substance abuse problem, and they frequently turned away patients who needed mental health services.

Likewise, mental health facilities only addressed the mental illness at hand and would not treat addiction issues. The problem, however, was that people often returned to addiction when their mental illness symptoms returned.

Today, there is a greater understanding of the link between mental health and addiction. Many substance abuse treatment centers offer services for mental illness, and vice versa. This type of treatment increases the odds of a successful recovery and long-term sobriety.

Recovery Is Ongoing

It’s important that ongoing mental health care be a part of recovery from addiction. If you struggle with anxiety, depression, or bipolar disorder, you may experience a return of symptoms at any time. Understanding how to manage these symptoms is essential. The urge to return to substance use in order to cope with feelings of depression, panic attacks, or manic symptoms can be powerful.

How Can You Maintain Your Sobriety in the Midst of a Mental Health Crisis?

The first step is understanding your mental illness. Managing your symptoms often takes a team approach. It’s important that you have a support system in place and that you learn how to advocate for yourself. It’s also important that any doctors or counselors you have are aware of your addiction and that you are in recovery.

Avoiding stressors, getting lots of support for your sobriety, and practicing self-care is another important step.

Finally, have a plan so that if and when your symptoms emerge you know what to do, who to talk to, and how to get the help and support you need—not just for your mental health, but also for your sobriety.

If you are in early recovery and looking for a clean and sober living environment in the Chicago area, contact us to learn more today. A sober living environment can dramatically increase your chances of staying sober after treatment and can offer you much-needed support in the early weeks and months of your sobriety.

In any facet of life where people need support, a clever developer somewhere has made an app to help them. Ever since Apple’s 2009 “There’s An App for That” campaign, it seems developers have gone overboard making apps for everything from helping you find the nearest restaurant to avoiding creepy clowns. (Seriously. There’s an app for that.)

As silly as some of them may seem, mobile apps can also be a great tool for support in recovery. Recovery from addiction requires a lot of support, oftentimes when we least expect it. Triggers are around us everywhere. Highway exits on the road, songs on the radio, people all around us pushing our buttons. Triggers can catch us suddenly and by surprise.

We might be unsuspecting, but we don’t have to be unprepared. Here are four mobile apps to help you in recovery. Load these apps on your smartphone to take them with you on the go. Use them at home, and access them anytime you need a little (or a lot) of extra support.

1. SoberTool

Platform: iOS and Android

Price: Free

SoberTool uses proven techniques to help you stay sober by providing immediate support when you need it. It helps train you to effectively use coping skills in daily life. SoberTool increases motivation by counting the days you’ve been sober and also calculating the money you’ve saved. Relapse prevention support is provided through:

• Rewards for the time you have stayed sober
• Daily motivational messages
• A search engine attuned to recovery needs. Type in a single word to describe your current feelings. It will lead you to solutions to help cope with those feelings and avoid relapse.
• A tool to deal with cravings. Answer simple questions and follow prompts to find a reading to help you in the present moment.
• A supportive and welcoming community. You are never alone with SoberTool. Anonymously share and receive support from others on its community forum.

SoberTool was developed by a Harvard-educated Licensed Chemical Dependency and Certified Alcoholism Counselor, who is also 27 years sober, along with a team from The Ohio State University.

2. Sober Grid

Platform: iOS and Android

Price: Free

Sober Grid offers a community of peer support through people focused on recovery. People join Sober Grid to access sober support and to help others. Sober Grid features a “Burning Desire” button you can use to let other sober people know you need help. “The Grid” is a GPS locator that helps you find other sober people nearby. It’s an excellent tool for travel and for connecting with other people in your area for support. Sober Grid also features a global newsfeed (think Facebook) where people can communicate and share posts with others.

3. Squirrel Recovery

Platform: Android

Price: Free

Squirrel Recovery Addiction App is a way to set up a recovery circle with a group of sober support people of your choosing. Your recovery circle can include 10 people. You can be proactive by programming the app to check in with you at predetermined times when you are likely to use. At these trigger times, the app asks you questions about your mood. People in your recovery circle see your answers and can respond with support and encouragement when you need it most. If you need immediate help, you can press a “Panic” button. Squirrel Recovery also keeps track of sober days, gives “coins” for milestones, and sends you motivational quotes.

4. recoveryBox

Platform: iOS

Price: $1.99

It is normal to experience sudden urges and triggers in recovery. The trick is learning how to recognize and manage them. Of course, there’s an app for that, too. By tracking and analyzing your daily behaviors, the recoveryBox app helps you identify issues and situations that are potentially dangerous to recovery.

Accountability is the focus with recoveryBox, an iOS app that uses green, yellow, and red lights as visual indicators of how well your actions are aligned with recovery goals. You track your daily life activities on a log. You get a green light and cyber high-five (“Way to go!”) for activities that support your recovery. You are cautioned with a yellow light for “Warning” behaviors, and a red light for troublesome “Acting out” actions. Your log is saved and you can email or text it to your accountability partner or counselor to increase your accountability and receive valuable feedback.

If you are looking for a sober living environment to further support and encourage you on your path to recovery, contact us. We help people rebuild their lives and create pathways to sober living.

At Stairway to Freedom, we believe strongly in the power of sober living houses; it’s what we’re all about. And that’s why we wanted to take a moment to look back at the history of sober living houses and why they’re still so important today.

Understanding Sober Living Homes

According to a scholarly article by Douglas L. Polcin and Diane Henderson, sober living houses (or SLHs) are places where people can live in a drug- and alcohol-free environment while trying to maintain abstinence. They are especially beneficial for those who are homeless, recently incarcerated, or don’t have the social support to stay sober on their own.

Not everyone struggling with substance abuse has a group of people cheering them on at home, encouraging them to get sober and stay sober. So for those who lack that support at home, an SLH can provide a strong and inspiring community of other sober individuals.

Formal treatment is not generally provided in a sober living home, but residents who live in an SLH are strongly encouraged, and often even required, to participate in a 12-step program.

The History of SLHs

Polcin and Henderson explain that SLHs began in the 1830’s through institutions like the YMCA, YWCA, and the Salvation Army. Unlike today, these homes were generally run by religious groups with strong convictions about sobriety, and residents were often required to participate in religious services.

Skipping forward to the 20th century, the Post-WWII era brought with it more alcohol addiction, tighter living quarters, and bigger cities. This is also when Alcoholics Anonymous was born. During the 1970’s the need for sober living homes increased because not only were drugs and alcohol problems on the rise, but existing SLHs were being pushed out of cities due to the lack of affordable housing. This made these types of havens few and far between.

Another factor that led to a greater demand for sober living homes was the increase of homelessness in the 80’s and 90’s. According to the article, a conservative estimate is that 40% of homeless people struggle with alcohol addiction and 15% deal with drug addiction. SLHs have the potential to help end the vicious cycle of homelessness and alcohol or substance abuse.

The second half of the 20th century did bring about several models of sober living homes, including the Oxford Houses. These houses emphasized peer support and democratic leadership. They were also self-sustaining—not run by outside organizations.

Different models have used a “manager” of sorts to collect rent and kick people out when they relapse. But today, most models agree that a “peer council” is a better route that promotes unity and teamwork.

Why SLHs Are Still So Important Today

This brings us to the discussion of the importance of SLHs today. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism recently conducted a five-year study of sober living homes, tracking 300 people in 20 different SLHs across the country.

Of the 300 people who initially agreed to participate in the study, 130 were available for the 6-month follow up. 40% reported they had remained abstinent for the whole 6 months, and 24% reported they were sober 5 of the 6 months. While there is obvious evidence of some relapse, living in an SLH did increase the likelihood of recovery.

Other big factors in recovery found by the study were the severity of a psychiatric condition and participation in a 12-step program. The study concluded:

“Sober living houses are an excellent example of an underutilized modality that could help provide clean and sober living environments to individuals completing residential treatment, engaging in outpatient programs, leaving incarceration, or seeking alternatives to formal treatment.”

Stairway to Freedom is an organization committed to providing both men’s and women’s sober living options in Chicago. It is our mission to see people succeed on their journey to sobriety through the support provided by a sober living community. For more information on our sober living facilities, please contact us today.

2017 is finally here, and for many women on the path to sobriety, it is a time of deep reflection. With the new year comes new goals and a renewed dedication to your sobriety. However, like many New Year’s resolutions, that dedication can wane as the weeks pass. It becomes harder and harder to keep up with meetings, remain positive, and resist the temptations around you.

Maintaining sobriety, and surrounding yourself with the necessary support to do so, is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. The good news is that many of the resources you need for a healthy and happy 2017 can be found in a women’s sober living environment, and the better news is that the rest can be found within yourself.

Here are a few ways you can start your year off right in a women’s sober living home.

Find Your Gratitude

Gratitude is one of the foundations of steadfast sobriety. Staying sober is tough. You may be riddled with painful memories, guilt, and cravings, and every day can feel like a battle. But looking past the pain and finding things to be grateful for right now allows you to shift your perspective in a powerful way.

You are clean and sober! You are alive and safe! You have a second chance to make your life amazing and to experience this new year and future years in recovery. This is something to be grateful for, indeed.

Cultivate More Gratitude

If you’re struggling to find your gratitude, get back to basics. Start writing a daily gratitude list, if you aren’t already. Now is the time to get grateful for the simple things. 

It’s cold outside, right? You are in a warm, cozy home. You have food and clothing. You aren’t in jail or on the streets. You are clean and sober, and that means you get to make good decisions for yourself and your loved ones, from now on. Celebrate all of those things.

Be of Service to Those Around You

If there is one surefire way to enjoy your new year more it is to be of service. There are so many ways you can do this. Reach out to your housemates. Check in with them; they may be struggling.

Did you get clean and sober via an addiction treatment center? See if you can participate in holiday events as an alumnus. Attend in-house meetings if possible, or go support other women still in treatment.

Finally, look into volunteering. Homeless shelters, kitchens, animal shelters, and other programs can always use your help.

Only Focus on What You Can Control

Maybe you couldn’t afford the presents you would have liked for your family, or maybe you couldn’t spend the holidays with the people you love. While your feelings about this are absolutely valid, if these things are not in your immediate control, then you must practice acceptance and focus on what you can control.

Remember, each day that you spend clean and sober puts you closer to whatever goals you may have. That might mean getting a better job or reuniting with family. Have faith, do the footwork, and let it go.

Participate in Your Recovery

You should be participating in your recovery year-round, but the new year is an especially important time to reinvigorate your commitment to your sobriety. Are recovery groups in your area planning any events? Are there women who need your support? How can you get more connected?

Celebrate Your Accomplishments

The new year is not just a time to think about what you want to achieve but also a time to look back at what you already have achieved. Take the time to celebrate your victories and the victories of others you know who are working toward sobriety. You have worked hard and come so far, and that progress should not go unrecognized.

As 2017 gets off to a start, think of the year ahead and set your intentions to continue with your recovery. With the help of a women’s sober living home and a positive mindset, you can make this year your best yet.

If you would like to learn more about sober living homes for women, contact us today.