Halfway Houses | McKinney, Texas | Elevated Sober Living

A Story by Amy Campi | Updated 11/9/2017 10:52am


What is a halfway house? What is a sober living house? What do these facilities do and what DON'T they do? How do you go about finding the right facility for your loved one? Sober living homes are a facilities designed to build structure and accountability for those in early recovery who are just coming out of a residential treatment or participating in an outpatient program. Halfway houses may also be known as sober living facilities due to legal requirements, however more often than not, these are specifically for those who are returning to society after incarceration.  There are many aspects to consider when you are looking for a sober living facility including: cost, gender specific or coed, amenities, transportation, treatment programs and location just to name a few. It can be overwhelming if you are new to recovery or if someone (for example, your probation officer) is telling you that you have to be in a sober living house by a certain date.  The internet provides an abundance of information as does the television which brings me to the following response to Dr. Oz's episode on 11/8/2017. 

Dr. Oz, in Dr. Oz form, bad mouthed sober living facilities and halfway houses. He spoke negatively about halfway houses being run by felons who were out to steal money at the expense of the client's health.  He claimed that the owners of sober living facilities aim to keep people hooked on drugs as a way to make money.  Perhaps there are bad apples out there, I don't doubt it. There are some in every field, including the medical field, Dr. Oz.  As a professional in the field of recovery, I implore Dr. Oz to do more research. These blanket statements about the facilities is a terrible way to use this platform.  A better angle would have been to use this as a teaching tool for families. I do realize there was a snippet of information about how to find a good sober living house, but if I was at a cross roads of looking for treatment or sober living (by the way Dr. Oz, rehab and sober living are not the same thing) I wouldn't have listened to the guest explain how to go about finding a reputable facility after he spent so long destroying the reputations of these programs.  His display of the information essentially bashed the recovery community and those who work hard in this field on a daily basis.  

Working in the field of recovery and/or owning a sober living house may appear an easy, stress free job (it's not!) but it does not come without heartache, liabilities and daily stressors.  Elevated Sober Living has been open for just over one month and we have experienced a fair amount of sadness as we try to help people achieve early recovery.  It is in poor taste to discourage people from seeking help on national TV. I fight this fight every day against people who think addiction is a moral failure and those who have the platform to change that stigma have instead perpetuated it.  Please reach out if we can be of service for referrals, a place to stay or anything else you may need along the way.  Please follow our social media accounts as well: TwitterFacebook.

Thanks for reading!

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