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The Stable Environment Model

A major challenge facing many individuals attempting to abstain from substances is finding a stable living environment that supports sustained recovery. Access Foundation provides affordable supported housing in the form of sober living residences that are alcohol and drug-free.

Our goal for the individual is to contribute to stable employment, wellness, and to reduce the overall risk of recidivism in the jail or prison system or relapse into substance abuse and mental illness. The Stable Environment Model provides the support necessary for residents to achieve long-term recovery and lead lives of dignity and maximum independence, reducing the over-reliance on institutional care, corrections, and shelters as warehouses for vulnerable individuals.

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What is The Stable Environment Model?

Access Foundation employs The Stable Environment Model in their homes as a recovery intervention model emphasizing experiential knowledge, connection, and peer support as the basic elements and framework for building recovery capital. It is a culture that promotes recovery, an emphasis on the retention effect, an opportunity to lead others, and a strength-based focus on growth. But it all starts with housing.

Affordable Housing

There is increasing recognition that recovery begins with housing, a comfortable space where self-directed accountability and connection-oriented behavior are encouraged and practiced, where recovery can thrive while preparing residents for a clean and sober life without relapse.

Affordable housing provides the environment for a nonjudgemental, comfortable arena where abstinent behavior can be practiced, preparing the client for a clean and sober life without relapse. For us, it is important to separate landlord functions from the treatment roles.

Access Foundation homes are community-based meaning treatment comes from the community, we do not provide treatment in the home.

The Leadership Experience

Resident engagement in leadership and governance empowers peers to mentor those with less experience. This is a fundamental principle founded on the importance of building human recovery capital.

As the resident community is empowered through self-governance, their reserves of self-determination, self-confidence, skills, and hope—important factors for recovery—are enhanced.

This capital becomes a resource for an individual’s ability to sustain their recovery and is an essential component of the Stable Environment Model. A Policies and Procedures manual provides standards and an effective framework of support for group leaders dealing with day-to-day activities.

A Culture of Recovery

Q: Five frogs are perched on a log. Four decide to jump off. How many frogs are left on the log? A: Five, because deciding and doing are not the same thing.

The Stable Environment culture is about behavior change. Without a sea change in perception, improved coping and communications skills, and a new community of recovering friends, pledges to recovery are no guarantee of success unless behaviors themselves change.

The culture nurtured by the Stable Environment Model produces residents that are very engaged and a peer support system that provides the structured living environment needed for success to take hold. Individuals learn responsible behavior and develop long-term patterns for successful living.

The Retention Effect

A thorough attempt to understand the retention effect was an eight-year study conducted on nearly 1200 addicts. After following up on over 94 percent of the study participants, they found that there is a relationship between extended abstinence and long-term recovery.

The research indicates:

About 30% of people who are abstinent less than a year will remain abstinent. Nearly 70% are expected to relapse
For those who make it one year, their chances greatly increase to about 66% that will remain abstinent to five years.
Once those remaining reach to 5 years of sobriety, their chances of sustained recovery reach 85 percent.

House Leadership and How it Works

Those who lead develop leadership skills, responsibility, and a better understanding of the process for
helping others, that cannot be learned in any other way. In the Stable Environment Model, group leader-
ship is voted on, and house peers are placed in positions to assist fellow residents, particularly new arrivals, by supporting and encouraging them, problem-solving, and mentoring through shared experience. Other residents benefit from the experience, support, and advice gained from peer-led interventions

House Manager

Establishes house culture, key role in maintaining order.

House manager sets the agenda for house meetings and plays a key role in establishing house culture. A manager checklist, our P&P manual, and a visiting operations manger support the house manager in his or her duties.

assistant manager

Tracks details

Keeps track of house meeting minutes, updates board, tracks vacancies, ensures all residents have an active mentor or sponsor. Acts as House Manager in the manager's absence.

House Accountant

Keeps track of house ledger

House money is distributed back to the house from rent received. House accountant does the shopping for the house based on needs voted on during the house meeting. UA money is collected and managed. Reports are given during the house meeting.

CHore advisor

Everyone works together to keep the house clean.

The Chore Advisor conducts inspections, distributes responsibilities, and ensures there are sufficient cleaning supplies in the house. Coordinates deep cleans and makes sure filters and vacuums are clean serviced.

Four Steps to Admission

How to get a position in one of our houses

Step 1: Complete an application

Click the apply now button at the top of this page - there are five buttons on this page alone so you shouldn't have any trouble finding one. Answer every question truthfully, once completed, click the submit button and an email alert will go to our team. You should get a call from Battista, but if you just can't wait to get in, feel free to move to step two.

Step 2: Contact Battista to schedule a house interview

Battista is our Operations Manager, you can call him directly at 435-559-1817. Let him know you have completed the application and you would like to schedule an interview with the house. He'll give you a date and time for the next house meeting and contact the House Manager and let him know you called. Don't forget to show up for the interview.

Step 3: Interview at the house meeting

The Stable Environment Model works because of the residents who live in the homes. They look for a good "fit" and hope to establish a good connection with you. If that happens, plan on moving in. But there is one more step to ensure your spot in the house.

Step 4: Contact Mike to make payment arrangements

Mike can help you get in. You will need to work out your security deposit and first month's rent with him before moving in. No cash, don't worry - we work with you to help you get into the house through a reasonable payment plan or through resources that can provide assistance. Give Mike a call at 435-680-1459, its not painful - the goal is to get you into the house, not turn you away.

Call Me: Battista Locatelli

When you're ready to choose recovery, call Battista at 435-559-1817 and find out what steps you should take to get into a house. If you find yourself a bit "short" on cash, there may be solutions available to help you. Our goal is to get you into the house, not keep you out. We'll get you on the right track with the support you need. Battista can answer your questions for you and connect you with house managers. He'll tell you what you might expect, and can guide you through the process.

What experts say about the principles of our model

At Access Foundation, we strive to increase Recovery Capital in our residents. We hope to capture both the principles associated with recovery capital and the spirit of it by documenting and exploring how simple, structured, practical, everyday experience and natural social forces can play a major role in shaping behavior change. To find out more about Recovery Capital, click here.

William L. White, MA

Senior Research Consultant at Chestnut Health Systems, past-chair of the board of Recovery Communities United

More likely that of seeing an achievable top than hitting bottom

The obstacle to real recovery is not the pain of hitting bottom, but the absence of hope,

connectedness, and potential for fulfillment. The catalytic turning point for those with depleted recovery capital is more likely to be one of seeing an achievable top than hitting bottom.

David Best, Ph.D.

Professor of Criminology in the Department of Law and Criminology at Sheffield Hallam University

A lived experience of improved life quality and sense of empowerment

We believe that the essence of recovery is a lived experience of improved life quality and a sense of empowerment; that the principles of recovery focus on the central ideas of hope, choice, freedom and aspiration that are experienced rather than diagnosed, and occur in real-life settings rather than in the rarefied atmosphere of clinical settings.

dr. lisa rosenthal

Associate Professor in the NYC Psychology department at Pace University.

Full-time employment reduces depression and stress

Research has found that people with full-time jobs reported having the lowest levels of depression and stress; they also tended to eat the healthiest foods and ranked lowest for unhealthy food consumption. People holding down full-time employment enjoyed the most physical activity and reported the lowest levels of alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking.