The Butte SPIRIT Center seeks to provide transitional housing, with access to supporting services, for people recovering from substance use disorders (SUD). The project was started by members of the Butte recovery community and seed capital to acquire a facility was provided by the founding members and other community members. The project seeks to form partnerships amongst existing SUD treatment service providers in the community and to help fill the gaps in care for this population. The overarching project goal in the short term is to help address the acute need for transitional housing for men recovering from SUDs. Our long term goal is to build partnerships with existing organizations in the community and to help address as many deficiencies in care as possible, using evidence based approaches to address the most serious deficiencies as effectively as possible. Butte SPIRIT Center aspires to provide housing and services not only for men, but eventually for women and families as well.
Improved evaluation of community-level prevention has enhanced researchers’ understanding of environmental and social factors that contribute to the initiation and abuse of alcohol and illicit drugs, leading to a more sophisticated understanding of how to implement evidence-based strategies in specific social and cultural settings. Evidence supports the conclusion that individuals who spend time in sober living facilities after inpatient treatment have lower rates of drug and alcohol use, improvement in psychiatric symptoms, higher rates of employment, and fewer arrests. Due to these positive outcomes, sober living homes are often lauded as critical to recovery. Simply put, sober living facilities provide a measurable impact on the recovery of those who utilize the opportunity to smooth out the transition into the “real world.”
During their stay at an inpatient treatment facility, individuals have 24-hour supervision and rigid structure. Each day is planned out and filled with recovery-related programming. When an individual returns directly from this structured treatment environment back into freedom in an environment where they were using, they are easily overwhelmed. Many individuals may be tempted to turn to mind-altering substances as they return to the stressors of daily life or may be triggered by certain places, people, or situations.
Sober living facilities provide a safe transitional living environment for individuals moving from institutional life back to their original community. The Butte SPIRIT Center will provide a sense of structure for residents by having mandatory recovery activities, house meals and meetings, chore schedules, and curfews. Individuals will also be held accountable for their sobriety with random drug and alcohol testing. In addition to these essential elements of sober living, we aspire to provide life skills classes, connections to education, job training, and work placement, as well as connecting residents to affordable housing once they are ready to leave our facility.
External Links
- National Council for Behavioral Health. Brief informational overview of Recovery Homes. https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Recovery-Housing-Issue-Brief_May-2017.pdf
- Community Health Needs Assessment finds Substance Abuse to be especially problematic in Butte, with lack of services being cited as a major issue (page 143-153) http://buttesilverbow.healthforecast.net/2017%20PRC%20CHNA%20Report%20-%20Butte-Silver%20Bow.pdf
- U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health, Study on Efficacy of Sober Living Homes: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3057870/
- U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health, Comparative Study on Crime Around Treatment Centers: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3057870/