Perceptions of sober living houses among addiction counselors and mental health therapists: knowledge, views and perceived barriers.

Affordable alcohol- and drug-free housing that supports recovery is limited in many areas. Sober living houses (SLHs) offer a unique living environment that supports abstinence and maintenance of a recovery lifestyle. Previous studies show that SLH residents make improvements on alcohol, drug and other problems that are maintained at 18-month follow-up (Polcin et al. 2010). However, for SLHs to maximize their impact they must recognize how they are viewed by community stakeholders and successfully address barriers. This pilot study recruited a convenience sample of two stakeholder groups, certified alcohol and drug counselors (N = 85) and licensed mental health therapists (N = 49), to explore knowledge and views about SLHs using an online survey. Therapists and counselors had similar views about SLHs, although counselors had more direct experience with them and were more knowledgeable. Both groups were highly supportive of increasing the role of SLHs to address addiction problems in their communities. Those who were most supportive had more knowledge about SLHs, agreed that alcohol and drug problems were caused by a physical disease, and agreed that successful recovery required an abstinent living environment. Both groups identified a variety of barriers, particularly social stigma. Recommendations are made for knowledge dissemination and decreasing barriers.

A clean and sober place to live: philosophy, structure, and purported therapeutic factors in sober living houses.

The call for evidence-based practices (EBPs) in addiction treatment is nearly universal. It is a noteworthy movement in the field because treatment innovations have not always been implemented in community programs. However, other types of community-based services that may be essential to sustained recovery have received less attention. This article suggests that sober living houses (SLHs) are a good example of services that have been neglected in the addiction literature that might help individuals who need an alcohol- and drug-free living environment to succeed in their recovery. It begins with an overview of the history and philosophy of this modality and then describes our five-year longitudinal study titled, "An Analysis of Sober Living Houses." Particular attention is paid to the structure and philosophy of SLHs and purported therapeutic factors. It ends with the presentation of baseline data describing the residents who enter SLHs and six-month outcomes on 130 residents.