How to Streamline Drug Testing at Your Sober Living Home

Every sober living house approaches drug testing differently. It’s up to you as the sober living home operator to decide how you’d like to handle drug testing at your home. Getting clear on the rules and expectations before you begin will save you a lot of headaches down the road. Using the right tools to help your staff and your residents stay on track can make the task a whole lot easier. For a deeper dive into building a complete testing framework, see our guide on sober living home drug testing protocols.

Today let’s look at how to streamline drug testing at your sober living home—from setting rules and scheduling tests to managing consent forms and keeping the process fair.

Get Clear on the Rules

First thing’s first—decide how your sober living home will handle drug testing. Nearly all sober living homes have drug testing as a part of their program, but there are many choices you need to make about how drug testing will be administered at your home.

Some common approaches we’ve seen sober living homes take are:

• Weekly testing

• Monthly testing

• Testing every six weeks

• Random testing

• Testing upon request/suspicion of use

• Some combination of the above

Whatever you decide to do at your sober living home, stay consistent. Write down your drug testing rules in your resident handbook (you have one, right?) and make every resident read and sign the document before moving in. If you’re using the Sober Living App, you can have your resident read and complete all of their paperwork—including their intake forms—on the device of their choice.

No matter where you house your intake paperwork, be sure to go over your drug testing rules in detail during the intake process. Drug testing rules should never be a surprise to any of your residents and the testing schedule should feel fair and even-handed, never arbitrary.

Schedule It

Now that you have a plan, implement it. Use a calendar like the one in the Sober Living App to schedule drug testing for all residents. Link the resident and a managing staff member to the event in the app so that the drug test appears on each of their calendars. If you don’t want residents to be notified of an upcoming drug test date, just link a staff member to the event. That way, the event won’t show up in the resident’s calendar.

If you’ve chosen to do random testing, you’ll need a reliable method for selecting who gets tested and when. Options range from simple name draws to online random number generators. Whatever method you use, be sure to link a staff member to each scheduled test event so that they know to follow through on the task. For more on selection methods, see our Drug Test Randomizer Guide.

Record the Results

Once your resident completes their urinalysis or breathalyzer test, it’s time to record the results. If you’re using the Sober Living App, this is as simple as opening the resident record and adding a drug test result. You’ll instantly see the resident’s entire drug testing history and you can easily add to the record from any device - even while you’re standing in the lab or waiting in the parking lot.

Stay Consistent With Consequences

The last thing you’ll need to establish at your sober living home is drug testing consequences. What happens when a resident fails their drug test? Again, every sober living home handles this differently.

Some common approaches we’ve seen include:

• The resident is automatically asked to leave without delay

• The resident is given a certain time period to leave (24 or 48 hours)

• The resident is given a second chance to provide a clean sample

• The resident loses certain privileges

• The resident is required to obtain additional support

• The resident is moved to a facility with a higher level of care

When you’re deciding on your approach, remember that relapse is contagious and that one resident’s relapse can affect other residents’ sobriety. However you decide to approach relapse, make it consistent. Be prepared for each relapse to feel like a “special circumstance” that warrants bending the rules. Resolve to stay the course no matter what.

One great option for dealing with relapse is to require your resident to return to inpatient or outpatient treatment to regain their sobriety. If your organization runs sober living homes as well as inpatient or outpatient rehab, the resident records you create in the Sober Living App can seamlessly transfer to BehaveHealth’s more robust EHR and integrated billing system should a resident need to return to a higher level of care. Likewise, the resident records you create in the BehaveHealth system can easily carry over to the Sober Living App when residents are ready to move to sober living. This means less time spent on paperwork for both your residents and staff.

Drug Test Consent Forms

Before you administer a single test, every resident should sign a drug test consent form. This document protects both you and your residents by setting clear expectations up front. Without written consent, you risk disputes over testing policies, potential liability issues, and confusion about what happens after a positive result.

A solid drug test consent form should include the following elements:

• Acknowledgment of the testing policy. The resident confirms they understand that drug testing is a condition of residency and that tests may be administered on a scheduled or random basis.
• Substances tested. List the specific substances your panels screen for—common panels cover alcohol, opioids, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, THC, and cocaine. Being explicit avoids arguments later.
• Consequences of a positive result or refusal. Spell out exactly what happens: probationary period, required treatment referral, or discharge. Also state that refusing a test is treated the same as a positive result.
• Confidentiality clause. Assure residents that their test results will be kept confidential and shared only with authorized staff on a need-to-know basis.

Here is a brief example of consent language you can adapt:

“I, [Resident Name], acknowledge that [Sober Living Home Name] requires drug and alcohol testing as a condition of residency. I understand that testing may occur on a scheduled, random, or for-cause basis, and that I am required to comply with all testing requests. I further understand that a positive test result or refusal to test may result in disciplinary action up to and including discharge from the program.”

“I consent to the collection and testing of urine, breath, or oral fluid samples as determined by program staff. I understand that my test results will remain confidential and will be shared only with authorized personnel involved in my care.”

Having residents sign this form during intake—alongside your resident handbook—creates a documented paper trail. If you’re using the Sober Living App, you can include the consent form as part of your digital intake process so residents can review and sign electronically. For a ready-to-use template you can customize, see our Drug Test Consent Form Template.

Random Drug Test Selection Methods

Scheduled drug testing is predictable by design—and that predictability is its biggest weakness. Residents who know exactly when their next test falls can plan around it. Random drug testing removes that advantage and creates a stronger deterrent because residents know they could be selected on any given day.

The key to random testing is making sure your selection method is genuinely unbiased. Here are the most common approaches:

• Manual drawing. Write each resident’s name on a slip of paper and draw from a container. This is simple and transparent, but it’s hard to document and easy to second-guess. Residents may question whether the draw was truly random.
• Random number generators. Free online tools like random.org can assign numbers to residents and select a set number of names for each testing cycle. This is more defensible than a manual draw, but it still requires staff to run the tool, record the results, and schedule the tests manually.
• Purpose-built software. Some sober living management platforms offer randomizer tools that automate the selection process based on rules you configure—testing frequency, blackout dates, minimum days between tests. These tools can eliminate human bias and create an auditable record of every selection.

Whichever method you choose, document your selection process in your policies and keep records of every random draw. This protects you if a resident ever challenges whether the testing was truly fair. For a step-by-step walkthrough of setting up random selection at your home, read our Drug Test Randomizer Guide.

Try the Sober Living App Free Today

Drug testing is just one example, but the Sober Living App can help you streamline so many aspects of your sober living home. Stop letting the details fall through the cracks. Why not start your free trial today?