What is a Sober House?

When someone has a problem with drugs or alcohol and their life becomes completely unmanageable, they may choose to go to a rehab for treatment or their loved ones, especially their parents, will send them for drug and alcohol rehabilitation.

This is what we call primary treatment for addiction. There are many different rehabs in Thailand and around the world to choose from. Going to rehab will get you out of an often-dark isolated place so you can detox in a safe place and start your recovery journey, following a programme that is designed to help you manage your addiction.

Most people will then go home after one to three months of rehab, but some people will go onto a sober house after treatment.

A sober house is another stage to treatment where you can continue your recovery, but the environment is much different and hugely beneficial to staying sober long-term. It’s a transitional stage of treatment in between rehab and going home, which we often call secondary treatment.

The sober living programme should be a step down from the full structure of rehab so you will start to get used to living independently again. Rehabs have a very busy schedule, but sober houses are a bit more relaxed. You will now take responsibility for your recovery learning to manage your time.

What is a sober living house like?

Sober homes are normally shared accommodation where you live with other people who are there for the same purpose. They are alcohol and drug free zones and some houses provide a programme to follow and some don’t.

Sober houses in Thailand, including The Calm will provide a programme and some will employ counsellors. The Calm has a semi-structured programme and very experienced counsellors who will guide and support you through the early stages of recovery after leaving rehab.

Everybody who lives in the house is using it as a safe environment whilst they adjust to daily life after rehab, knowing they have support from staff and peer support from the other house guests.

Sober houses will give you your freedom to come and go from the house so you can start practising what you’ve learnt in rehab out in the community. There will be a curfew and some rules to follow. This is very different to primary treatment where you are not allowed out of the facility.

A good sober house should have a community feel to the place as the peer support is the most important aspect of the house.

You will generally get your own room although some have shared rooms. The Calm gives you your own private room with en-suite bathroom. If the house is run by experienced people, then you will gain a lot from being in a healthy learning environment.

You will start to work towards a greater independence, feeling confident in your recovery as you navigate your way through your journey.

At The Calm you can get involved in the 12 step meetings of NA an AA. The recovery community is huge in Chiang Mai and you only need to google AA meetings in Chiang Mai or NA meetings in Chiang Mai to get involved.

Secondary Care for Addiction

If you’re not ready to go home straight from rehab and feel that a gentler transition is for you then you should consider a sober living programme.

By landing back to reality and dealing with the ups and downs of early recovery in a safe environment you are giving yourself a much better chance of maintaining sobriety long-term.

At The Calm sober house, you are a part of the recovery community and a family all at the same time. We specialise in a sober living programme that is run by people in long term recovery. We have been through the ups and downs too and we are here to guide you through this stage.

We give you the responsibility to choose what works for you, giving you complete ownership of your recovery.

Learning to get to know yourself clean and sober and learning to manage your emotions can be very difficult once the drugs and alcohol have gone. Often the real work begins in a sober house as you will now be exposed to triggers everywhere around you.

If you were to go straight home after rehab and struggle with triggers and your emotions with no support, it could be a recipe for relapse.

Sober houses in Thailand

We are not associated with any rehab. All other sober homes are owned by the big rehabs in Thailand.

We specialise in sober living because we believe that the real recovery work starts once you leave rehab. Rehabs will focus on their primary treatment facility first and their sober living second.

We are focused on getting you stable and content and balanced in your recovery and we fully prepare you for going home.

We strongly recommend that you spend time at a sober house as a transitional stage of treatment. We also recommend that you look for one that empowers you to take responsibility for your recovery because this is the biggest most important factor you will need when you do go home. You will not always have people around you, or support and you need to know how to be responsible on your own sometimes.

Some sober houses may tell you that there is only one way to recover but that is untrue. We are unique because we do not follow the usual one size fits all approach. We let you choose your path and we support you in those decisions.