Andrew Lamb walks through how he screens people for his sober living homes. He requires residents to choose to be there themselves, not get sent by shelters or courts, because voluntary admission predicts who actually stays sober and engaged.
Step four is going to be setting up and operating. What you really want to make sure you have intact is a strong intake process. What we learned was by just spending a ton of effort on the front end, it actually saves a lot of effort on the back end. The homes ran more smoothly. There were no headaches. When we really took the time to make sure the person that we were letting in was motivated, was truly drug and alcohol free. They had recovery related goals. They wanted to get a job, do what they needed to do, and then find permanent housing. They didn't just want to use this as a place to lay their head and be protected from the elements. Like they truly wanted a place to get better. Remember, this is a place where people are choosing to be in homes like ours. There's no court order, no one's telling them they have to do it. It's a choice they're making to live in a sober living environment. And so we just want to make sure they are actively making that choice. For example, we recently had a shelter call us and say, hey, we have somebody here who we would like to have move into your home. We had to ask the question, well, is this their idea or is this your idea? And they literally said like they were just trying to free up beds in their space and if it's not the individual's idea, they're just not going to thrive, they're not going to do well in our homes. So we denied that person. We said, you know, if it's not them reaching out, saying, hey, I want this, then it's not going to be a good fit for us because they're just not going to have long term success.
