What Is A Halfway House? What Is The Purpose & Benefits Of A Halfway House?

Once the drug recovery treatment plan has come to an end, the real challenge is going back out into the world as a sober individual. However, there are many triggering factors that one might need to fight against to ensure complete recovery. This is where Halfway Houses come into the picture. Halfway Houses work towards enabling and transitioning an individual to not just return to the society but to contribute and live as a responsible member of the community. Let us learn more about what does a Halfway House means and what is a Halfway House used for.

What is a Halfway House?

Halfway House is a facility center or institution that helps addicts recovering from substance abuse to reintegrate into society. These houses generally provide recovery sessions, therapy, and counseling to help the resident. The goal of the Halfway House is to help an individual function responsibly in society.

Understanding what is a Halfway House helps make clear its purpose and benefits. As mentioned, it is the intermediate setting between an inpatient substance treatment facility and an independent living. All the behavioral corrections explained and discussed during treatment are put into practice in the Halfway House.

What Is The Purpose Of A Halfway House?

Now that an understanding is reached on what does a halfway House means, we will learn what a Halfway House is used for.

The main purpose of a Halfway House is to assimilate recovering addicts from their life of substance abuse to living in society as a contributing, responsible member. However, for such an individual migrating to the society is usually hard since they may not have a job or even a place to stay. The Halfway House intends to provide the residents with the support they need
until they are capable of living independently in society.

Halfway Houses have an organized and monitored environment usually with strict rules and regulations that provide support in terms of counseling, therapy, skill training, etc. This will help them to function again in society.

In essence, the purpose of a Halfway House is to act as a bridge between the treatment/ rehabilitation phase and the real world. In the Halfway House, the recovering addict will be supported by peers and superiors in a substance-free environment that will encourage them to be productive individuals. By interacting with the community in the house, the resident learns how to develop social relationships. All Halfway Houses also encourage learning life skills and techniques to cope with society. This will be then incorporated into a resident before they move into the real world.

Halfway Houses function by using a peer-oriented approach where the residents are encouraged to be financially self-sufficient by finding a job and are also stimulated to lead a disciplined and healthy lifestyle by imposing certain rules and regulations.

This type of transitional living is important because often when recovered addicts go back to their neighborhood and homes they relapse. They are re-exposed to drugs and alcohol that can trigger them to get back to their old habits. Halfway Houses are facilitated exactly for this. They aim to make the residents strong and independent such that they can resist the urge to return to substance abuse.

Benefits of Halfway Houses

Now that we have a clear picture of what is a Halfway House, let us look into the advantages it has on recovering addicts.

Most of the Halfway Houses have programs that aim at benefiting the resident to integrate back into society. This includes having a substance-free environment and building a network of sober residents that support each other, counseling, employment support, recovery therapies, and sessions, etc.

Halfway Houses also have strict rules that need to be followed that will ensure that the resident utilizes the provisions of the house to its best abilities. Spiritual sessions are also provided for those who prefer the same.

Some of the benefits of Halfway Houses include:

Concentrated Care For Residents

Halfway Houses are usually staffed with therapists and counselors. While counselors are available from morning till evening, some houses also have on-premise counselors.

Some Halfway Houses are exclusive for abused women that provide mental health counseling as well as support groups.

Residents are also usually monitored. Every house will have a house manager who is in charge of the happenings inside the house. Typically, a newcomer is always placed with another roommate who is then accountable for each other. Newcomers are ordinarily subject to higher levels of monitoring which gradually reduces once they have progressed while in the house.

Focus On Discipline And Healthy Habits

Typically, every Halfway House has a defined set of rules and regulations. These include waking up at a fixed time, completing chores, tidying rooms, contributing to the functioning of the house, etc. These rules aim to ensure that the resident is not subject to boredom and isolation that are sometimes triggers for substance abuse. By staying engaged, they are active and this leads to a healthy lifestyle.

As part of this, Halfway Houses also require residents to be employed. Support in finding employment is also offered in some Halfway Houses. By demanding that an individual should be employed helps one to be financially independent and self- sufficient.

Support Network

Every resident including staff is or has been in a path of recovery from substance abuse. Therefore, there is already an inbuilt support system when a newcomer enters the house. Since all residents are working towards the same goal, there is a sense of unity and connection that motivates them to continue on this journey of recovery.

Safe Environment

Every Halfway House has a strict substance-free environment. Violence, abuse, and theft are not tolerated. Violation of the same may result in residents being removed and charges are filed if necessary.

There are also very strict visitation rules imposed by Halfway Houses. Visitors are required to be pre-approved and only stipulated number of visitors is allowed for a resident. Additionally, visitors are generally not allowed to carry any belongings when visiting a resident. All of the above ensures that as long as the resident is in house, they are in a safe environment.

Halfway House Programs

Every Halfway House provides sessions, classes, and programs that help them reintegrate into society. Some of these include:

•  Life skills training
•  Support group meetings
•  Vocational training
•  Financial counseling
•  Parenting skills training
• Family therapy
• Anger management classes
• Domestic violence classes
• Spiritual programs

Focus on Career and Education

One of the main struggles of a recovering addict is concerning career or education. They may have dropped out of school or maybe out of jobs.

Halfway Houses provide educational training such as computer training and can also provide support in enrolling back in classes. Houses also help residents find new employment by providing interviewing training, career counseling, etc.

Understanding what is a Halfway House, what does a Halfway House mean and what is a Halfway House used for, helps realize that it establishes a solid base for an individual to lead a new and transformed life in the society. What is it like to live in a Halfway House varies across different facilities although the goal of all these houses remains the same.

There are general rules of a Halfway House that are imposed for the disciplined functioning of the institution. The greatest advantage of being in a Halfway House is the sense of direction an individual gets in constructing a renovated lifestyle. This new substance-free lifestyle is guaranteed to improve the quality and purpose of one’s life.