The third version of the NARR standards provides more explicit guidance to providers, including metrics for evaluating the peer support components of a residence’s recovery environment. In Massachusetts, sober homes and recovery residences are different models for substance abuse recovery. Recovery residences — formerly known as halfway houses — are licensed residential treatment programs, while Massachusetts sober homes are peer-led and do not provide treatment.
Providing access to a sober lifestyle.
- The Lenniger, a pair of five-story orange-brick buildings on a side street not far from the Bronx Zoo, is, overall, relatively stable.
- Evidence that staff are supported in maintaining appropriate boundaries according to a code of conduct.
- Some of his neighbors live with schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder or severe depression.
Evidence that staff and residents model genuineness, empathy, and positive regard. 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.
All proposals and applicant qualifications are stringently reviewed and vetted by MassHousing. What is expected of residents of a sober home? Residents of sober homes are expected to abstain from alcohol and drug use, other than prescribed medications, and to refrain from prescription misuse.
MASH Certified Sober Homes
- At his first shelter — “like a prison” — someone hit him with a milk crate.
- EMH Recovery, Brockton, $20,000 MassHousing grant funds will help expand counseling and supportive services for women residing in EMH managed sober homes.
- He moved with his mother to a little town in Pennsylvania.
- Mr. Mercado had saved bits of his disability income for months, bought $300 worth of recording gear and transformed his apartment into a studio.
MASH-certified sober homes must also offer a peer-based environment and be drug- and alcohol-free. 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.
Recovery Support Domain
But New York’s scattered-site apartments are often in dilapidated buildings with fewer services. Are you a state agency, licensed provider, individual, or family looking for a MASH-certified sober home? Search our directory to find a list of all MASH-certified sober homes. All MASH-certified sober homes follow the National Alliance for Recovery Residences (NARR) standards and have been independently inspected.
I. Core Principle: Cultivate the Resident’s Sense of Belonging and Responsibility for Community
Residents are not required to be employed, or sober, or medicated. Those sorts of rules have been shown to scare homeless people off or lead them to fail out of housing. At the Lenniger, some tenants even treat the heavily subsidized rent, typically 30 percent of their income, as optional. We regularly inspect all member sober homes to ensure safety, quality, and the building of a community of recovery.
In 2011, the National Alliance for Recovery Residences (NARR) established national standards for recovery residences (including sober housing). These standards were developed using a collaborative approach with input from regional and national recovery housing organizations. MASH is an affiliate of NARR and used these standards to create Massachusetts standards for certified sober homes. NARR has since released two updates to the standards, first in October 2015 and then in 2018.
Mr. Mercado told Mr. Gonzalez he mash certified sober homes wanted to move back to Brooklyn, to another building run by the Lenniger’s owner. Barnabas,” she mused. “They don’t provide individuals the real energy of care.” Besides, she said, she wanted to move out of the rough neighborhood. At his first shelter — “like a prison” — someone hit him with a milk crate.
EMH Recovery, Brockton, $20,000 MassHousing grant funds will help expand counseling and supportive services for women residing in EMH managed sober homes. MASH is a NARR state affiliate for recovery residences. Most Lenniger residents are assigned case managers who connect them to the resources that give supportive housing its name. Then he moved to a Bronx building for homeless people with mental illness. Peer support interactions among residents are facilitated to expand responsibilities for personal and community recovery. Grievance policy and procedures, including the right to take grievances that are not resolved by the house leadership to the operation’s oversight organization for mediation.
