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

Social Model Recovery and Recovery Housing

Recovery housing is an important resource for many in their recovery from alcohol and other drug use disorders. Yet providers of recovery housing face a number of challenges. Many of these challenges are rooted in stigma and bias about recovery housing. The ability to describe the service and purported mechanisms of action vis-a-vis an overarching framework, approach, or orientation could also go a long way in adding credence to recovery housing as a service delivery mechanism. Several aspects of social model recovery are often explicitly built or organically reflected in how recovery housing operates, yet describing recovery housing in these terms often does little to demystify key features of recovery housing. To more fully cement social model recovery as the organizing framework for recovery housing this article aims to: review the history, current status, and evidence base for social model recovery; comment on challenges to implementing the social model in recovery housing; and delineate steps to overcome these challenges and establish an evidence base for social model recovery housing.

Role of recovery residences in criminal justice reform

Over the past decade there has been a clear consensus among drug policy researchers that the practice of incarcerating persons for drug offenses has been counterproductive. As a result, U.S. criminal justice policy is increasingly emphasizing alternative dispositions to incarceration for drug related arrests. In addition, large numbers of persons currently incarcerated for drug related offenses are being released into communities. However, there are serious questions about where these individuals are going to live once released and how they will access needed services. Residential recovery homes in the community are good options for those who wish to pursue abstinence from drugs. They provide a drug- and alcohol-free living environment along with social support for abstinence and successful functioning in the community. This paper reviews recent changes in drug policy the U.S. and describes the variety of recovery home options that are available to persons diverted or released from incarceration.

How Should We Study Residential Recovery Homes?

PURPOSE

Persons with serious alcohol and drug problems who are attempting to maintain abstinence often lack an alcohol and drug free living environment that supports sustained recovery. Residential recovery homes, called "sober living houses" in California, are alcohol and drug-free living environments that offer long-term support for persons with addictive disorders. They do not offer formal treatment services but usually encourage or mandate attendance at self-help recovery groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

APPROACH

This paper weighs the strengths and weaknesses of different research designs for studying residential recovery homes. Alternatives to randomized designs that are able to capture "real world" data that are readily generalized are described and understudied topics are identified.

FINDINGS

A significant limitation of traditional randomized designs is they eliminate mutual selection processes between prospective residents and recovery home residents and staff. Naturalistic research designs have the advantage of including mutual selection processes and there are methods available for limiting self-selection bias. Qualitative methods should be used to identify factors that residents experience as helpful that can then be studied further. Innovative studies are needed to investigate how outcomes are affected by architectural characteristics of the houses and resident interactions with the surrounding community.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Use of the recommended strategies could lead to findings that are more informative, intuitively appealing, and interpretable.

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS

Recovery homes and similar programs will be more responsive to consumers.

ORIGINALITY

This paper represents one of the first to review various options for studying recovery homes and to provide suggestions for new studies.