October 1st will be Eric’s one-year sober, and he has been living at the Haven sober living since November 15th 2015. He moved into The Haven after being in residential treatment for 2 months.
At the time he completed treatment he wasn’t sure where he was going to go next, it just needed to be a safe and sober environment. He called up The Haven, and they let him move in paying just half the cost of rent so he could have that safe and sober place to go. The Haven sober living has been a vital cornerstone for his recovery, and has brought so much into his life the past eleven and a half months.
Some of the things Eric thinks make The Haven such a great place are: it’s convenient location downtown- this helps so much especially when you are first getting out of treatment and may not have a vehicle Eric explains. It’s location makes it accessible to all public transportation, grocery stores, AA meetings, and anything else you may need in the downtown area and all surrounding. Price is on point, and the best you are probably going to find as far as sober living in the Salt Lake area, not to mention their willingness to work with their clients financially as they did for me.
The Haven gave him such a reasonable framework for living, he describes it as “they give a good amount of tough love, no too much supervision to where it is up to you to take charge of your own life, but enough interaction and check-ins to keep you accountable and productive.” They also offer free meals to all their sober living residents; any resident can go up to the main house to eat breakfast, lunch, and/ or dinner with the in-patient residents. This helps the sober living clients stay close to a treatment setting, and also helps the residential clients become acquainted to those out in the community.
The Haven has a very large and successful recovery community around the sober living as well as just in the Salt Lake valley. This helps get people integrated into recovery, sober sports, sober community gatherings. Another thing Eric points out is that “yes there are a good number of newcomers around The Haven, but there is an equally large amount of people around with good, strong recovery and time sober. Because there are people living in the sober living with all lengths of time sober, the experience for me has been more diverse and introduced me to a number of solid sober friends.” There is a weekly house meeting each week with all members of the sober living house to check in, discuss community concerns, and attempt to resolve issues. This group is to help hold community members accountable, bring about community awareness as to how people are doing individually, as well as how they are showing up in the community as a whole.
“This experience in The Haven sober living has been incredibly beneficial for me. It has helped me get my entire life back on track, and actually put my life in a different direction than ever before, as they say- a direction I never thought possible.” This experience led Eric to new and supportive friendships, which then led him to his new passion for rock climbing, which he now spends most of his free time doing. For recovering alcoholics and addicts being able to find their passions in life is a huge step to help sustain long-term recovery. Eric would recommend The Haven sober living to anyone who needed a safe environment to live, wants to be part of a sober community, and needs to get their life heading back.
Eric thanks The Haven for all they have done for him, for the community it introduced him to, and for the life-changing experience he will forever have with him on his journey!
Categories: Recovery Story
