Trained staff (peer and clinical) provide learning opportunities. A weekly schedule details recovery support services, events and activities. Staff and/or resident leaders educate residents about local community-based resources. Policy regarding smoke‐free living environment and/or designated smoking area outside of the residence. Peer support interactions among residents are facilitated to expand responsibilities for personal and community recovery.
- In 2011, the National Alliance for Recovery Residences (NARR) established national standards for recovery residences (including sober housing).
- Our staff is kind, thoughtful and approachable.
Massachusetts Alliance for Sober Housing
A significant strength of the Options houses was that residents were able to maintain low alcohol and drug severity at 12-month follow up. As we say often at MASH, “Home is not a place. It is a feeling.” Our certified sober homes take pride in offering a home-like environment that supports recovery. Certified sober homes have comfortable spaces for living, sleeping, and engaging with peers, all of which make them valuable and safe spaces for recovery. We were founded jointly by Vanderburgh House, an operator of sober houses in Massachusetts, and Vanderburgh Communities, an organization supporting sober living and recovery home operators.
Factors that Predicted Outcome
To assess current psychiatric severity we used the Brief Symptom mash certified sober homes Inventory (Derogatis & Melisaratos, 1983). This 53-item measure assesses severity of psychiatric symptoms on nine clinical scales as well as three global indices. Items are rated on a 5-point scale and ask about symptoms over the past 7 days. We used the Global Severity Index (GSI) as an overall measure of psychiatric severity. Provide structured scheduled, curriculum-driven, and/or otherwise defined support services and life skills development.
Improving Outcomes for Criminal Justice Referred Residents
Upon arriving at a sober-living house from rehab or detox, a woman can expect a safe and supportive environment that promotes long-term sobriety. The house managers will assist in helping her settle in and become familiar with the house rules and daily routine. She will receive help and support from those knowledgeable about addiction and recovery.
- Massachusetts sober houses are certified by the Massachusetts Alliance for Sober Housing, or MASH.
- Their perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of SLHs in their communities should provide data that can be used to modify houses to improve acceptance and expand to serve more drug and alcohol dependent persons.
- Drug and alcohol administrators and operators of houses might therefore need different strategies to address the concerns of different stakeholders.
- Although self selection can be viewed as a weakness of the research designs, it can also be conceived as a strength, especially for studying residential recovery programs.
- By 18 months nearly all had left, yet improvements were for the most part maintained.
Certifying a sober house with MASH
Evidence that some rules are made by the residents that the residents (not the staff) implement. Policies and procedures regarding collection of resident’s information. At minimum, data collection will protect individual’s identity, be used for continuous quality improvement, be part of day-to-day operations, and regularly reviewed by staff and residents (where appropriate). This measure includes 9 items and was developed by Humphreys, Kaskutas and Weisner (1998) to measure the strength of an individual’s affiliation with AA. The scale includes a number of items beyond attendance at meetings, including questions about sponsorship, spirituality, and volunteer service positions at meetings.
Others, such as the Addiction Severity Index, assessed shorter time periods of 30 days or less. There are several primary aims for this paper. Second is to expand on these findings by considering potential implications of our research for inpatient and outpatient treatment and for criminal justice systems.
