Many people know that rehabilitation centers are an effective way of treating drug and alcohol addictions as well as preventing addiction in the future. These centers often use a combination of therapy and medication to ensure the health and safety of each person who checks in. However, some people find that after rehabilitation, they have trouble adjusting to everyday life. So how can these people adapt more easily?

For these people, there are two popular kinds of facilities: sober living facilities, and recovery residences, which are often known as halfway houses. Though both are made to help recovering addicts transition from rehab into normal daily activity, there are some differences that keep the two distinct.

These facilities have their routes in California, and many tend to recovering addicts with specific needs or demographics, such as sober living homes for men, or sober living homes for women. These homes are often privately funded by businesses and sometimes charity organizations.

Sober living facilities are not formal treatment centers, and you don’t need to have gone to rehab to live in one. They are often less strict than rehab centers, but their rules vary from home to home. Overall, though, sober living homes require abstinence from drug and alcohol use, keeping the homes clean and organized, and paying rent or a fee to live in the home. They also strongly advise their residents to follow standard 12-step rules for their treatment.

Halfway houses are readily available to those who come from rehabilitation facilities, prisons, and homelessness. Like sober living facilities, they also serve as a bridge between treatment and everyday life. While patients are allowed more freedom than they are in those places, they are still monitored and regulated to make sure they are sober and following a healthy path.

Halfway houses often have a limited amount of time that their patients can stay, which may be disadvantageous to those who do not feel ready to leave when their time comes. They are also funded by the government or affiliated treatment centers, so the funding to halfway houses are more easily cut than the funds to sober living homes. Despite this, halfway houses are a popular option to those in need of them.

Both types of transitional living facilities provide a way for recovering addicts to adjust to everyday life before they actually assimilate back into the work force or family life. Gradually giving more responsibility and ownership to the recovering addict has often proven to be more effective than simply thrusting someone from rehab back into their life.

These facilities also provide a strong support network of like-minded individuals within them. People in recovery can then hold each other accountable as well as themselves, and can socialize with those who can more readily and easily understand the struggle of another person living in the same community.

Some addicts also do not have a healthy environment to return to after rehab, so sober living homes and halfway houses can provide a more productive, stable environment. A change in scenery is often just the thing some people need to help make better choices for their entire lives.

There isn’t just rehabilitation to help those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. Transitional living facilities are designed to help people in recovery feel more in control and independent after either having a strict regimen in rehab as well as people who believe a more holistic approach is better for them. Sober living homes and halfway houses have their differences, but their effectiveness in curbing addiction is very comparable.