Transitional Living

There are many different terms for the continued recovery care options available after completing intensive addiction drug rehab. Understanding what those terms are and what the best care program is can be difficult and daunting. Terms like “sober living,” “halfway house,” and “transitional living,” are used often interchangeably but the fact is they are all quite different and are defined by the level of accountability the tenant needs before going to back home.

• Sober living is usually a house where the tenants have the completion of a drug or alcohol treatment program in common. The fundamental requirements to living in a sober living situation are holding a job and paying rent. The key benefit to a sober living house is that the person in recovery is around like-minded people who are making efforts to live a drug free lifestyle, hold a job and begin a new addiction free life. At Vertava Health we provide this service for a select group of our clients who have proven to be good students of our Dialectical Behavior Therapy program.
• A halfway house is more restrictive than a sober living house in that it is a place that has a list of rules determined by the house manager. The house manager can live on site but sometimes they do not. A tenant is given a set of rules to live by which can include things like observing a curfew, random drug testing, attending a minimum of 12 AA meetings, and having a sponsor meeting once a week.
• Transitional living is the most supervisory of the three recovery aftercare programs, typically offered as a men-only or women-only housing arrangement.

With Vertava Health’ transitional living programs, clients now are required to “live what they’ve learned,” from addiction treatment. There is an onsite pastor available 24 hours a day who knows where they are, why they are there and when they will return. They are required to have a job, can have a car or cell phone and even manage their own money. Random drug tests are performed and failure results in immediate ejection from the program.

However, if the client feels remorseful and wants to seek sobriety again, considerations will be made and depending on the level of drug failure the client may be given an opportunity to go back to treatment or continue again in transitional living.

Putting New Life Skills To Work

The goal of transitional living is to add freedom and responsibility along with counseling and guidance for times of stress, frustration, sadness and even boredom wherein the client practices his new life management skills that he’s learned in treatment.

As the client moves through the program he is granted weekend passes to visit family and friends and is drug tested upon his return. A client who holds a good job, can manage car notes, rent and other bills, visits his family and returns drug-free will be granted additional weekend passes. These weekends away from 100% supervision allow the client to rely on himself to manage life and practice life skills in the face of uncertainty. This also allows the family of the client to begin to trust the client again.

Clients are required to participate in a class every evening which can include a group session, an instructional class, church on Wednesdays and an alumni group on Thursday. Fridays can include off campus free time with a curfew of 11:00 p.m. Again, clients are managed by the house pastor who requires sign-ins and outs and information on whereabouts.

Transitional living offers accountability with freedom, teaches much needed life skills and gives the client the tools he needs to transition from treatment to into a life worth living.