5 Excellent Reasons to Consider Men’s Sober Living

Site Admin | Posted on September 28, 2017 |

1. Build strong connections with other males in recovery.
2. Spend time practicing sobriety in a safe place.
3. Find purpose in life.
4. Regain personal freedoms at a healthy pace.
5. Maintain accountability within a circle of recovery support.
Enroll in Men’s Sober Living Today

Updated on August 10th, 2020
If you are a man who has recently completed a residential drug and alcohol rehab program and you’re looking to continue on with the next phase of your recovery, enrolling in a men’s sober living program might be the next best step for you.

A men’s transitional housing program can provide many benefits for males in recovery but you may not be aware of all they offer. Whether you’re unfamiliar with the sober living home model or you’ve already lived in a sober living home for a brief time, here are five excellent reasons as to why a Eudaimonia sober living program might be right for you.

1. Build strong connections with other males in recovery.

Eudaimonia transitional housing provides a gender-specific environment that eliminates a lot of the competition and distractions for men in early recovery. A distraction-free environment reduces excess stress that sometimes comes with returning to daily life after rehab and allows you to focus completely on your recovery. This will help prevent relapse and promote personal growth.

Men’s sober housing also serves as a safe and supportive environment where residents can confront issues such as abuse, depression, anxiety, and trauma, which are often brought to the forefront in recovery. Men may have a difficult time discussing these things, but sober living homes foster an environment that is conducive to sharing and healing.

Building healthy relationships with peers in recovery also helps build and improve confidence, which is helpful in difficult times of adjustment, such as early recovery. In addition, peer support among males in recovery promotes healing and personal growth while bolstering ongoing sobriety maintenance.

One study found that peer involvement in 12-step groups was one of two major factors that influenced the outcome of a client’s sober living experience. In fact, sober living clients who displayed increased involvement in 12-step groups were much less likely to use addictive substances again within a six-month period.¹

Overall, sober living homes for men provide a supportive sober community. Having relationships and social networks that provide friendship, support, love, and hope helps men in the early stages of recovery fully understand what recovery can and should look like.

While you’re working to build a strong support network of sober peers, you can also establish a stable support system among friends and loved ones. Here are a few tips to help you get started:

Educate the people in your life about what you need. Often, family and friends don’t know what kind of support you need in recovery. Having open and honest conversations about the recovery process and your individual needs will ensure that everyone is on the same page. You may also want to direct your loved ones to reliable sources of information about addiction and recovery so they can educate themselves about the process as well.
Be understanding. A friend or loved one may find it difficult to support your recovery due to your previous behavior. For example, he or she may worry that you’ll be dishonest or start using again. This can be frustrating and disheartening, but try to be patient and understand that, just like you, your loved one needs time to work through the process to learn how to forgive, move forward, and fully support your sobriety.
Stay connected. Sometimes it may feel easier to just disappear or “ghost” someone, but if a loved one sends you a text message or email of support, it’s best to respond, even if you don’t feel like it or don’t know what to say. The more you stay connected to supportive friends and loved ones, the better off you’ll be.

2. Spend time practicing sobriety in a safe place.

Recovery is a long-term process and it often requires several different episodes of treatment, which may include detox, rehab, IOP, or sober living.² After drug and alcohol rehab, a sober living program serves as an essential part of the recovery process. Transitional living programs give clients the time they need to work through issues they will encounter upon returning home.

Unfortunately, if individuals return home too quickly after rehab, they may have a high risk of relapsing. The first few weeks and months of sobriety is an extremely vulnerable time, but sober living homes act as a buffer for residents as they slowly transition back into mainstream living. This is because sober living homes:

Provide clients with time to practice the skills and strategies they learned in rehab
Offer a safe place to grow
Require residents to establish personal responsibility daily
Help residents learn how to respect others and be considerate of the needs and feelings of those around them
Prepare individuals to return to a family living environment at home

Sober living programs also provide essential recovery support services like employment assistance, educational planning, and volunteer placement, which empower residents to establish a stable, sober life in recovery before they return home.

The amount of time a client spends in a transitional housing program is completely based on his needs and how quickly he adjusts to sober life on his own. However, many residents spend several months or even years living at a sober living home before they are ready to move out on their own.

However long you choose to spend at a sober living home, the most important thing is to make the most of the time and work diligently to establish the kind of life you want to live in recovery.

3. Find purpose in life.

After rehab, many individuals feel like there is a void in their life that needs to be filled. Previously, they filled it with drug and alcohol use, but now that that’s gone, they may find themselves searching for purpose in life. Recovery support services, such as those provided by Eudaimonia Recovery Homes, can help men in recovery develop a new sense of purpose for their lives by helping them achieve their career and educational goals.

Eudaimonia sober living homes also each have live-in house managers who are on-site regularly and are available to help walk clients through the struggles of early sobriety. These house managers are particularly helpful because they are actively in recovery themselves, so they understand and can relate to the struggles of other men in recovery. In addition, they can provide very valuable insight and actionable advice based on their own personal experiences in recovery.

Men in recovery may also choose to take advantage of therapeutic services, intensive outpatient programs, and volunteer placement, which all encourage active participation in a recovery program or local community. Over time, these things will all help clients regain purpose and meaning in their life.

In addition to utilizing the recovery services offered, like therapeutic services, IOP, and volunteer placement, sober living programs are also less restrictive than a residential rehab program, giving clients the freedom and ability to explore their interests. Finding and exploring new hobbies and interests will help individuals find a new purpose in life and fill free time with meaningful activities. By exploring and experiencing life in a new way, you can identify your passions and refine your personal goals to ultimately uncover your purpose in life.

4. Regain personal freedoms at a healthy pace.

After rehab, men in recovery are often faced with a sudden increase in responsibilities, choices, and freedoms. This can be overwhelming and result in additional stress. On the other hand, a gradual increase in responsibility and personal freedom is much more conducive to a successful transition into recovery.

Transitional housing programs encourage residents to learn essential life skills and adjust to a gradual increase in daily responsibilities by requiring them to do things like:

Maintain their hygiene
Keep a living space clean
Pay bills on time
Go grocery shopping and cook for themselves
Resolve interpersonal issues

Structured daily routines allow men in recovery to slowly grow accustomed to a new way of living and develop health practices that eventually become habits. These routines might include waking at a certain time every day, completing daily household chores, going to work, attending recovery meetings, and establishing a nighttime routine that promotes a restful night of sleep.

Within a Eudaimonia sober living home environment, this increase in responsibilities and freedoms is a gradual process that happens over time. As clients achieve their recovery program objectives, they are rewarded with additional freedoms, and so on. This allows for a slow and steady transition back into society.

Ideally, when a man makes the leap back into an independent lifestyle after completing a sober living program, these responsibilities will already be second nature. As a result, he will be more resilient, manage stressful situations with ease, and may be less likely to relapse due to stress-related factors.

5. Maintain accountability within a circle of recovery support.

Regardless of how determined an individual is, accountability is key to maintaining long-term sobriety. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), clinical treatment for addiction recovery is just one aspect of successful recovery, but on its own, it is often not sufficient in helping individuals maintain long-term recovery.³

Instead, clinical treatment for addiction works best when it is paired with peer accountability and recovery support services, which are often provided through sober living homes. Many sober living homes for men offer sober coaches who are available to provide person-centered support for long-term recovery management. Though a sober living home, clients can receive the following types of support:

Emotional support: Sober living staff and sober coaches are available to listen, express sympathy, provide encouragement, and help keep clients motivated, even during difficult times. They can also help clients work through cravings and challenging social circumstances.
Concrete support: They also provide more concrete support, such as by facilitating housing, helping clients enroll in IOP, or assisting them as they search for employment, update resumes, or prepare for interviews.
Information and resources: Certified staff can recommend trustworthy sources of information and provide referrals to treatment centers, counselors, and other professionals if needed.
Community connections: Sober living home staff members, sober coaches, and peer recovery support specialists also have valuable connections to community supports, activities, and events that can be advantageous for sober living residents.

Eudaimonia’s sober living program for men is designed to help each client develop a recovery circle full of people who are supportive of his recovery goals. In turn, every resident will work with a sponsor, sober coach, peers in recovery, family members, and friends to achieve their sobriety goals.

By surrounding themselves with individuals who are actively supporting their sobriety goals, clients are much more likely to maintain the motivation they need to maintain a sober lifestyle and continue pressing on toward the ultimate goal of living a sober, fulfilling, and independent life.

Transitional housing programs such as Eudaimonia also provide additional sources of accountability with regular drug tests, weekly support groups, personal monitoring programs, and a recovery curriculum that requires active participation in all of the above.

Enroll in Men’s Sober Living Today

Eudaimonia Recovery Homes provides robust transitional living programs for both men and women in Austin, Texas, Houston, Texas, and Colorado Springs, Colorado. Eudaimonia programs are designed to bridge the transition from rehab into a life of sobriety on your own.

We know the struggles you currently face, as well as those you will face down the road in your early sobriety, and we’re here to help. Our sober living homes and individualized recovery support services are designed to meet your specific needs, whether you’ve been sober for six days or six months. If you’d like to learn more about our men’s sober living program, please contact our admissions team today. We are happy to answer any questions you have.

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