Andrew Lamb breaks down the NAR four-level classification for sober living homes. Level 1 is peer-led with minimal rules; Level 2 is managed and structured; Level 3 has staff and supervised activities; Level 4 is licensed clinical care. He recommends starting with Level 2 or Level 3 and checking your listing matches your actual operation.
Typically we are running is a level two home. Again, if you look at the NAR standards, they have their code of ethics, but they also have these four levels. A level one kind of the Oxford House I mentioned would be a peer led home. No real rules, no real management, not even really a curfew. It's just people kind of all in recovery equally sharing the cost of that property. Level two would be managed, structured, supervised home. Level three would be there's actually like staffing, supervised activities, a little bit additional help, maybe case management. And then level four would be like clinical services. This is a licensed home, it's a licensed residential have. And so typically my homes, what I recommend running and what our students run are level two or level three homes. And so just when you're looking and comparing kind of apples to apples, make sure what you're looking at on that directory is a level 2 or a type M managed home or a level 3 or supervised home if that's something you're going to be offering.
