What Is Sober Living?

According to SAMHSA’s best practices for recovery housing, sober living is substance-free housing where people in drug and alcohol recovery live together in a peer-based model of shared accountability. Residents follow shared rules, support one another, and rebuild their lives outside of treatment.

 

Sober living is not treatment. It provides a focused environment where residents can practice healthy routines, build recovery skills for addiction, and develop daily habits that support long-term recovery. For many people, that structure is especially valuable during the hours between treatment sessions.

What Is a Sober Living House?

A sober living house is a private residence where people in addiction recovery live together under shared rules and staff supervision. Palm Beach Gardens Recovery operates 2 sober living houses, one for men and one for women. Rooms are shared, with private rooms available.

FARR-Certified Recovery Residences

Our sober living residences are certified by the Florida Association of Recovery Residences (FARR), the state’s certifying body for recovery housing. FARR certification means the homes meet published standards for safety, staffing, ethics, and resident rights.

Sober Living for Men

Our men’s sober living house gives residents a place to live alongside other men working toward long-term recovery. Residents share responsibilities, participate in house meetings, and follow the same rules, keeping the home organized and focused on recovery.

Sober Living for Women

Our women’s sober living house is separate from the men’s, with its own residents, house manager, and structure. Keeping sober living environments gender-specific gives women a recovery-focused setting without the additional dynamics of mixed-gender housing.

How Does Sober Living Work?

Sober living works by adding structure to the hours treatment does not cover. You live in the house, follow curfew, complete your share of the household responsibilities, and participate in drug testing 3 times a week while managing your life outside the home.

 

Each house has a peer-selected house manager who lives on site, and our chief operating officer (COO) and founder are on site every weekday. Our COO, a Certified Recovery Residence Administrator (CRRA), holds 12-step meetings 5 days a week that are available to all residents.

Sober Living While Attending Outpatient Treatment

Sober living is available alongside all our levels of care. Clients in partial hospitalization (PHP), intensive outpatient (IOP), and outpatient treatment (OP) can live in our sober living homes throughout treatment, so accountability continues after each session. Sober living on its own does not include clinical care; individual therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and other therapies are provided through the treatment program that fits your needs.

 

How much you can take on outside the house depends on where you are in treatment. PHP is 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, which leaves little room for much else. IOP is 5 days a week, 3 hours a day, while OP allows more flexibility with your time.

What Should I Expect in Sober Living?

Expect structure and a clear requirement to remain active in your recovery. Sober living at Palm Beach Gardens Recovery includes a curfew, house responsibilities, drug testing 3 times a week, and the expectation that you maintain abstinence throughout your stay.

 

Therapy is not required to live in our sober living homes, but you are expected to remain active in your personal growth. That can mean working, attending school, participating in group meetings, or being active in fellowship.

 

If you are enrolled in one of our treatment programs, therapy remains a requirement, including dual diagnosis treatment when a co-occurring mental health condition is present.

House Rules and Drug Testing

Every resident agrees to the same rules: stay substance-free, follow curfew, handle your share of the house responsibilities, and complete drug testing 3 times a week. These drug tests can identify a return to use early, allowing additional support or a different level of care to be arranged.

House Meetings and Peer Support

House meetings keep everyone on the same page about schedules, responsibilities, and anything going on in the home. The bigger value is the peer support around you: living with people who know exactly what early recovery feels like builds a sense of community you can’t get on your own.

 

Our CRRA-credentialed COO holds 12-step meetings 5 days a week. You can attend as many of the 12-step meetings as you’d like, and having easy access helps you stay focused on the harder days. These are peer meetings rather than clinical sessions; 12-step facilitation therapy is offered through our treatment programs.

Building Life Skills and Healthy Routines

Sober living is where recovery skills turn into daily habits. The sober living skills you build here can carry you forward after treatment ends. Getting up on time, maintaining your space, cooking, managing money, and showing up for responsibilities are practical life skills that help rebuild stability.

 

That is why every resident is expected to work, study, attend group therapy, or participate in fellowship. Healthy routines do not build themselves, and the sober living lifestyle is not about restriction; it is about building the kind of ordinary, steady day that makes staying clean and sober possible.

How Long Can You Stay in Sober Living?

Residents can stay in sober living at Palm Beach Gardens Recovery for up to 6 months. Sober living runs separately from treatment, so your stay doesn’t end when your treatment program does.

 

That continuity matters because finishing outpatient treatment is often when formal clinical structure decreases, and old routines can return. A study of sober living house residents found that stays of at least 6 months were associated with more days of sobriety and fewer psychiatric and legal problems than shorter stays. The findings support considering length of stay as part of long-term recovery planning.

What Is the Difference Between Sober Living Homes and Halfway
Houses?

The difference between sober living homes and halfway houses is not always clear because the two terms are used differently across regions. Halfway houses are often connected to government or criminal justice programs and may have fixed time limits. Sober living residences tend to allow longer stays and more independence than a halfway house.

 

Sober living homes are generally privately operated and focus on voluntary, substance-free recovery housing, peer support, and greater independence. Palm Beach Gardens Recovery operates FARR-certified sober living homes, with stays of up to 6 months and a house manager living on site.

How Do I Choose a Sober Living Home?

Choosing a sober living home in Florida means separating certified recovery residences from unregulated rentals, and FARR certification provides an easy way to verify that distinction. Federal guidance on best practices for recovery housing points to safety, qualified staffing, clear resident rights, and a code of ethics as marks of a quality home.

 

From there, ask about what shapes daily life: Is the house staffed and supervised? Does a house manager live on site? How often is drug testing done?

 

Are men and women housed separately? What’s expected of residents, and how long can you stay? Good sober living options answer all of that plainly and put it in writing before you move in.

 

Look at how the house connects to treatment, too. Sober living facilities connected to an addiction treatment center can make it easier to transition into outpatient programs or a higher level of care without changing providers.

Is Sober Living Covered by Insurance?

No, insurance doesn’t cover sober living. Insurance may cover treatment and medication, depending on your plan, but sober living is housing.

 

At Palm Beach Gardens Recovery, sober living is paid separately and is not billed to insurance. Payment is collected weekly. Your PHP, IOP, or OP treatment may be covered by your insurance plan.

 

Palm Beach Gardens Recovery is in-network with Cigna and TRICARE and accepts most major health insurance plans, but sober living costs are handled separately. Call us, and we’ll walk you through it all.

Stay on Your Recovery Journey with Sober Living at Palm Beach Gardens Recovery

The hardest part of recovery usually isn’t the treatment. It’s the hours in between and where you spend them. Our FARR-certified sober living homes offer substance-free living, with a peer-selected house manager on site, our COO and founder here every weekday, and up to six months to develop the routines and stability needed for long-term recovery.

 

You can join sober living while receiving treatment with us or move into one of our homes independently if you already have recovery underway and need a stronger environment to protect it. Palm Beach Gardens Recovery is in North Palm Beach, about 15 minutes from West Palm Beach and easy to reach from Interstate 95.

 

Call Palm Beach Gardens Recovery to ask about openings in our men’s and women’s houses.