A recovery home is sometimes called a sober living home or halfway house. It acts as a bridge between an inpatient facility (also called a residential program or rehab) and home. Many people relapse after they leave the structure and support of rehab because the change hasn’t had time to take root. The decision to enter a recovery home can be the difference between relapse and long-term success.

Recovery homes provide support to help individuals reinforce the coping skills they learn in rehab. House members go to meetings, skills groups, maintain employment/school, manage their finances, pay rent, and follow house rules. Recovery homes provide accountability and pull you up if you start slipping up in your recovery work. Often times at home, loved ones cannot tell if we are using for weeks to months. In the recovery home, substance use is monitored closely and slips are managed before they turn into full blown relapses. These homes have been shown to improve sobriety rates by 58% at 6 and 12 months (Polcin et al., 2010).

Individuals move into a recovery home after they complete their stay in rehab. You should find a rehab that is covered by your insurance and coordinate with our staff during your rehab stay to enter our home directly on discharge. We suggest moving into a recovery home if you have any concerns about being able to stay sober at home after rehab. Recovery homes are especially helpful for people who relapse habitually after rehab, cannot avoid encounters with drug/alcohol users in the first six months at home, or have a hard time maintaining recovery at home.

People typically stay at a minimum of 3 months, but can stay 6 months or longer depending on individual circumstances. Detox programs last days and relieve the body’s withdrawal symptoms. Rehab programs last weeks and stabilize the mind’s intense cravings and impulsive drive to use. Recovery home programs last months and solidify long-lasting change.

Our recovery homes are located in Chicagoland (Waukegan, Illinois) and the Bay Area (Richmond, CA). Candidates join the home after completing a residential program covered by their insurance. A few weeks before completing rehab, you should contact us to fill out an application and conduct an interview. If you are accepted, you sign the house rules, pay move-in costs and rent, submit a drug test, and transition directly from rehab to the home.