About the The House
At Design for Recovery, we are more than just a sober living home - we are a family.
Design for Recovery is a sober living lifestyle facility located in beautiful Mar Vista, a neighborhood in Los Angeles’ Westside. Design for Recovery – Sober Living East is a structured sober living home. As a structured sober living home, we work to ensure that young men have a supportive, safe, and comfortable home base. While developing bonds within the house, residents also get involved in West LA’s broader recovery community. In our Mar Vista sober living home, young men have an opportunity to develop new tools for sobriety — and for life.
Our Mar Vista property offers modern amenities and comfortable rooms where clients can feel at home. Meanwhile, our staff members and other residents form the backbone of their recovery support. Our residents work daily to pursue personal growth and move forward in their recovery journeys. At Design for Recovery – Sober Living East, this doesn’t just mean physical abstinence: it means taking tangible steps toward building a better life. This kind of growth is made possible through strong peer support.
Our Home
Design for Recovery’s Mar Vista property is the perfect home base for young men to live safely and comfortably while building new lives for themselves. The house itself was built in 1979. At 2,515 square feet, it is both spacious and pleasing to the eyes. The home contains 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It also includes every conceivable modern amenity, from air conditioning and central heating to large walk-in closets and a spacious backyard with fruit trees.
Most residents congregate in the home’s living room. Design for Recovery holds weekly house meetings in this spacious room, providing residents and staff members alike to work through challenges and give each other feedback and advice. Throughout the week, residents relax and engage in recreational activities in this room. The living room features a high-end entertainment system, including a flat screen television with surround sound. Residents can also make use of the room’s bookshelves.
For outdoor recreation, housemates need only step outside to our backyard. This outside yard contains fitness equipment so that residents can blow off steam, improve their health, and get some sun.
Residents cook meals for themselves, though we also hold group dinners on a regular basis. Our modern kitchen contains cutting edge appliances, a walk-in pantry, and a center island. A roomy dining area adjacent to the kitchen provides plenty of opportunities to relax and bond over a delicious meal. We encourage residents to cook delicious and healthy food for themselves as they — and their bodies — recover from years of substance abuse.
It is common for people to live in uncomfortable or even dangerous places during active addiction. Coming to our Mar Vista property for the first time can feel like entering a luxury retreat. Young men at Design for Recovery, however, quickly learn to be accountable for their own living situation. Our residents take full responsibility for the maintenance and upcook of their chosen home. For new residents, this might feel like a burden, but over time it ends up feeling empowering.
Keeping a clean, livable, and comfortable living environment can be a source of pride and joy, especially for individuals who spent years living in squalor and feeling powerless to change that. After a long day of pursuing recovery and taking action, residents can relax on their couch and say, “This is ours.”
Services Offered
Young men at Design for Recovery’s Mar Vista sober living home work daily to stay sober and rebuild their lives. Our structured environment and supportive community are essential for these goals. Design for Recovery emphasizes principles living above all else, and clients in our home work to develop character traits such as honesty, accountability, and integrity. They work to clean up the wreckage from their days of active addiction, but they also take concrete steps toward new and better lives. The support of staff members and house managers, as well as other residents, is critical.
At Design for Recovery, we offer a number of services, including:
One-on-one mentoring begins as soon as a new resident enters the house. Someone who has been there longer will serve as an unofficial mentor for a while, helping the new resident get familiar with the layout and structure of the sober living home. Gradually, the new resident will develop relationships with all the other housemates — and they will eventually serve as a mentor to a new resident themselves!
At Design for Recovery, we believe that peer support is the most critical aspect of long term recovery. Individual willpower doesn’t cut it. Addiction is often spoken of as a “disease of isolation,” and therefore living and connecting with other young men who have similar experiences and struggles can be profoundly healing. Residents can freely discuss their problems with the community or their mentors, and they can expect nonjudgmental support as well as honest feedback. Over time, they have the opportunity to grow into leadership roles and mentor other people.
At Design for Recovery, we not only work to help the individual young men living in our home, but their extended families. Addiction is widely recognized as a family disease, with both upbringing and genetics being major factors in its development. Moreover, important relationships with family members are often sorely damaged during active addiction. At Design for Recovery, we aim to help residents heal these relationships, resolve conflicts, and develop new, healthier family dynamics. We ensure that family members have a chance to play an active role in the recovery of their loved one. Beyond that, we welcome family members into the broader Design for Recovery community.
We do not offer clinical treatment at Design for Recovery, which means we do not directly prescribe medications. However, it is common for sober living clients to suffer from comorbid physical or mental health conditions. Approximately 50% of individuals with substance use disorders suffer from mental health disorders as well. For individuals who require medical interventions or other forms of treatment, we help them get connected to the resources they need.
Moreover, for residents who are prescribed medication, our staff members work to monitor their dosage and medication intake schedules. Our medication monitoring service ensures that individuals in early sobriety, who are often confused, overwhelmed, and a bit disorganized, do not need to worry about keeping track of their prescription schedules. This not only takes a burden off their backs, but it can also reduce the risk of accidental or deliberate misuse of prescription drugs.
One of the most important aspects of recovery is building a fulfilling and sustainable future for oneself. During active addiction, most people work from paycheck to paycheck, are stuck in dead-end jobs, or do the bare minimum they need in order to afford drugs and alcohol. Many are serially unemployed and have no source of income whatsoever. The idea of getting sober only to return to this way of life is rarely very appealing to anyone.
Design for Recovery works to ensure that residents become employed while living at our Mar Vista sober living. Our vast alumni network is often of great assistance. Meanwhile, young men in our sober living work to develop more long term career plans. In some cases, they even return to school to develop the skill set they need for an entirely new career. Our staff members support clients throughout this process, helping them tackle the initial challenges of writing a resume, getting through a job interview, and even showing up to work on time!
Substance addiction and fiscal responsibility rarely go hand in hand. Most young men with substance use disorders spend all their money on the substances they’re addicted to. The financial issues that young men frequently have during active addiction are also linked to their equally common employment problems. In many cases, addiction causes people to lose their jobs or become unemployable. Moreover, the behaviors associated with substance abuse can cause people to spend impulsively, go into debt, and engage in petty crimes — with expensive legal consequences. Above all, young men with addictions are most likely to rely on their families for the funds they need.
At Design for Recovery, we help young men learn to manage their personal finances better. They live within their own means without leaning on family members. Our staff members help residents set budgets and avoid risky spending. While working jobs, young men at our sober living house actually end up saving money that they can later invest if they so choose. Clients graduate with a solid foundation for lifetime financial independence. Given that financial insecurity is a major factor in many relapses, achieving financial independence is a vital aspect of recovery.
A New Way of Life
Design for Recovery provides a safe environment where young men can live together and pursue sobriety together. In our Mar Vista sober living home, however, we place the utmost emphasis on helping young men obtain the gifts of sobriety. When young men decide to get sober, it is generally because they are tired of their old way of life. Sobriety gives them a chance to begin new lives. This process, however, takes time — and it is not automatic. Even after substances have been removed, young men in recovery need support, new skills, and strong values to live by.
At Design for Recovery, we let residents take as much time as they need to pursue these goals. Many of our residents come out of treatment centers, including inpatient rehabs and outpatient rehabs, after having detoxed and gotten sober. These sorts of short term addiction treatment programs can help people avoid catastrophe, but the actual recovery process generally takes longer. As our residents progress at Design for Recovery, they gradually become more and more independent. Whether they enroll after a treatment program or as a first line approach to addiction recovery, Design for Recovery is here to provide support and guidance.
Transportation
At a sober living home like Design for Recovery, residents have the opportunity to live on-site. As such, there is no need for young men in our sober living house to have their own means of transportation. Our centrally located home in Mar Vista offers easy access to an assortment of fun activities, recovery resources, and support groups. For family members and loved ones in the area, it is easy to schedule a visit or plan an outing. Design for Recovery is just around the corner!
Many of the young men living at Design for Recovery have needs outside the house that require them to enter the city. These can include court appointments, counseling sessions, doctor’s visits, and outpatient programs. The staff at Design for Recovery ensure that residents can access these services whenever necessary. Even when clients do not have access to their own cars, we help make arrangements. Staff members, long-term residents, and even alumni are available to offer supervised transportation.
We also provide transportation for residents to daily 12-step program meetings. Our residents attend 12-step meetings daily, including Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous, throughout the Mar Vista area. We make transportation arrangements so that residents can attend these meetings as a group. This allows them to develop their sober social support systems in LA’s broader recovery community.
Structured Living
Design for Recovery – Sober Living East is classified as a structured sober living home. Structured sober living homes are a type of sober living home that is more or less unique to Southern California. At a structured sober living home, residents benefit from additional resources, support, and scheduling — far beyond what they would normally get at a mere sober residence. Not only do young men have a safe and trigger-free environment to pursue recovery, but they get active support from Design for Recovery – Sober Living East structured recovery services and staff.
In our structured program in Mar Vista, residents follow a set routine every day. Consistent wake-up times, communal meals, and group activities are all features of a day in the life of sober living. Clients take part in activities designed to help facilitate recovery skills, self-care skills, and increased connection to the recovery community. Regular house meetings help sober living clients address issues, challenges, and conflicts using healthy communication styles.
Clients learn and develop a new set of values in Design for Recovery’s structured recovery home. While strengthening their characters, young men can begin to develop new sober lives that they can take pride in. We emphasize accountability, honesty, responsibility, and integrity. These principles not only form the backbone of long term sobriety, but they are also applicable to all aspects of life. From making one’s bed in the morning to conflict resolution, recovery manifests in ways both big and small.
Sober Fun in Mar Vista
Our sober living home is located in Mar Vista, a centrally located neighborhood in Los Angeles’ Westside. As such, residents find it easy to access any recovery resources they need, including support groups, specialists and professionals, and 12-step meetings. Family members and other loved ones have no difficulty visiting or taking residents for an outing.
Mar Vista is also simply an enjoyable place to pursue recovery, because Mar Vista and its adjacent neighborhoods in West LA have a wide variety of attractions and fun activities. It may sound contradictory to hear the phrase “sober fun,” but in reality sober fun is quite achievable. There is far more to do in LA than simply going to bars and clubs! With a strong sober support system and a foundation of recovery tools, alcohol-free activities can be far more enjoyable than intoxication and blackouts ever were!
Residents regularly go on group outings to blow off steam. Our Mar Vista property is near a number of parks, shopping centers, grocery stores, and the beach. Other popular attractions in and around Mar Vista include:
The Mar Vista Farmers Market is held every Sunday. There, local farmers meet to sell fresh and organic produce. Whether you are there to buy ingredients for a delicious dinner or simply to people watch, the farmers market is a great place to spend a Sunday morning or early afternoon.
Few people would recommend LAX as a place to spend a Saturday afternoon, but it is only a short drive away from Design for Recovery. As a result, our sober living home is very accessible for family members or other loved ones who are visiting from out of state.
This top-ranked university provides a number of rigorous academic programs. The campus itself is beautiful and certainly worth a visit. For ambitious young men who want to return to school, Loyola Marymount is only a short drive away from Design for Recovery.
This 600 acre reserve is known for its wetlands, uplands, and salt marsh. It is a great place to walk, bike, or simply spend time meditating. Undisturbed animals and plants of many species can be enjoyed in their natural habitat.
Los Angeles isn’t just a movie city. It is increasingly becoming known as one of the world’s art capitals. Major art museums in the area include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Getty Center, and the Getty Villa — all on Los Angeles’ Westside.
From Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier to more undisturbed natural beaches, the coast is only a short drive away. Whether you’re interested in sunbathing, people-watching, surfing, or simply wading into the water, there is nothing quite as relaxing as Southern California’s beaches.
Find Community at Design for Recovery
Design for Recovery – Sober Living East is a structured sober living home for men located in Mar Vista. Our program helps young men achieve recovery by providing them with a safe and trigger-free environment. Our program is grounded in the 12 steps, and we emphasize strong principles of living such as accountability, integrity, responsibility, and service. The residents of our sober living homework daily to strengthen their sobriety one day at a time, while also taking positive steps forward in their lives.
Perhaps the most important benefit of living at Design for Recovery – Sober Living East is the sense of community. Addiction experts call substance use disorder a “disease of isolation.” At Design for Recovery, young men have the opportunity to connect to others with similar experiences. Research on sober living homes demonstrates that people who obtain peer support are more likely to stay sober even years after graduating. Aside from protecting against relapse, however, these relationships are long-term sources of joy, meaning, fulfillment, and fun.
It is our philosophy at Design for Recovery – Sober Living East that recovery is much more than mere physical abstinence from drugs and alcohol. It entails developing a new approach to life — what we call a design for living. In our sober living home, residents address underlying issues, such as mental health conditions and complex family dynamics. Above all, they take concrete steps toward building better futures for themselves. It may take some time, but by learning new skills, developing new career goals, and connecting to the broader sober living Los Angeles homes, young men can build the solid foundation they need to stay sober in the years to come — and to face any challenge that presents itself.
If you are ready for a new way of life, contact us today.
We are here to support you every step of the way.
Strength in Sobriety
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Strength in recovery often comes from knowing you have a community there to support you. Our quarterly newsletter reminds you that others have gone down this path. No matter where you are in your journey – considering sobriety, in recovery, living sober, or have a loved one that you would like to help support – our newsletter is here as a guide to continue being your strength in sobriety.