What is sober living? What is a halfway house? Also known as transitional living. http://www.nftl.org

1. What is a Halfway House or Transitional
House?
Jason Lee Overbey: Posted on Saturday, July 27, 2013 8:21 PM
What is a Halfway House? What is a Transitional House or Transitional
Living? What is Sober Living?
As the Director of Operations for transitional living houses, I am asked a few times
each week, "Just what is transitional living?"
Is it the same as a sober living house? Is it a halfway house? I thought halfway houses
were for people coming out of prison? Aren't those houses dangerous? Isn't it just
dirty old men?
Let's face it: society truly does not understand the disease of addiction and
alcoholism. At best, we try to tuck it away and let the criminal justice system and first
responders deal with it. UNTIL... it hits home!
New Foundations provides Transitional Living. We feel that "transitional" is the best
adjective to describe our main function. "Halfway" or "Three Quarters" housing hints
at the idea... but "transitional" best conveys our primary purpose.
We are usually the second step in a man or woman's journey of recovery.
Our tagline reads, "Giving our residents roots... and wings!"
Fully detoxing from drugs and alcohol is only the very beginning of recovery from the
disease of alcoholism and addiction. A much more important personal work is
needed once the body and the mind is free from mood and mind-altering substances.
It is a work of finding a foundation, of finding roots.
That work begins here, at New Foundations!
We provide safe and comfortable housing for men and women to get a "new
foundation" in recovery. We serve clean, newly remodeled, structured living
arrangements for a newly sober person to get settled, and rooted in the recovering
community in our city.
By the time an alcoholic or addict arrives at a treatment center, hospital or jail as a
consequence of their using, they have usually created a lot of trouble for their
personal lives. Homes are destroyed, houses and apartments lost, jobs terminated,
children taken, health compromised - and they are generally shut off from society as
non-addicted persons know it.

2. After detox, it is time to rebuild! It is time to transition into a totally new life. We are
not interested in regaining a resident's "old life" for them. We often hear, "I just want
my life back!" We believe, instead, their is possibility for a new life, new hope and a
whole new purpose for their living.
Most cannot go back home... or shouldn't go back home. The man or woman
wanting to rebuild needs to step out on his or her own. Take responsibility. Transition
back into society. Basically and honestly, they need a brand new life.
Drugs and alcohol for the addicted person reaches to every part of their life - not just
the damage we can see on the outside. Repairing takes time.
We afford a place where they can live for short-term (90 days) or long term (up to a
year or more) to start this transition.
What we see in our 7 houses is no less than a modern day miracle.
Men and women enter our community from treatment, hospital, jail, the streets, or
from home. They most often come with nothing. (And here we could use YOUR
help to rebuild their lives! Click on "HOME" to see how you can make a
donation in any amount!)
We watch - daily - as they get settled, look for work or go back to school, start to
reunite with family, get counseling, join AA or NA, and STAY clean and sober!
What is truly fascinating is to watch them eventually begin to GIVE BACK. One gets
the feeling that our residents know they have been saved from an early death. It
seems once they begin to heal they are overwhelmed with a sense that they have to
"return the gift". And it is amazing to watch the process.
We want to drive home the point again that it takes a lot of work. We are usually the
second or third step in a person's journey of recovery before they eke out on their
own to forge a new life. And our residents do not come to take it easy or have a
vacation. They come to get busy. They come to build community. They come to get
support from each other. They come to get referrals for counseling and coaching for
careers. They come to get down to the causes and conditions of their using...
They come to transition!
We work hard - day and at night - to give them the roots for the transition. And, we
work hard - even when it is uncomfortable for them - to make sure by the time they
leave... they have their wings.
We invite everyone to write us with their questions. Call and schedule a time to tour

3. some of our properties in Cincinnati or Northern Kentucky. Get involved!
Jason Lee Overbey
Director of Operations
NFTL
513.693.3798
jason@nftl.org