Chaotic Admissions and Billing? Check Out Sober Living Apps' Admissions 2.0 Update

One of the best parts of working on the team at the Sober Living App is working with sober living home operators around the country. Leading by example, the recovery housing community continually inspires us to work harder and stretch further than we thought possible. 

At the Sober Living App, we don’t just serve the recovery community, we are the recovery community. 

That being the case, it makes sense that we take a lot of our business ideas and inspiration directly from the wisdom of the recovery community. 

Here’s one of the big ones: We’re always hustling to improve the service we offer to others.

As COVID-19 has swept through the country, we’ve all changed the way we live. The sober living world has felt these changes acutely. 

At the Sober Living App, we listen when our users tell us that things need to change, and fast. So, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work, making the best all-in-one software solution for sober living home operators even better and even more useful in a changing world. 

The result? A smoother and more powerful app experience than you ever imagined, especially designed to take on all of the new challenges sober living home operators are facing today.

Read on to learn about the brand new features you’ll find in the new Sober Living App Behave Admissions 2.0 Summer 2020 Update.

Problem: Your clunky, time consuming admissions process involves a ton of multicolored paperwork, a lot of signature bottlenecks and awkward payment collection. 

Solution: Our Summer 2020 Update removes all remaining admissions drama and replaces it with a zen-like digital process that’s 100% clean, simple and smart. 

Here’s how. 

A singular workflow eliminates user error and guides even the most newbie employee through the entire process, start to finish. 

The application form is customized. It’s online in the cloud. Potential residents can fill it out on their phone wherever they are. Once completed, all of the information they’ve entered into the application automatically populates the rest of your system.

Finally, we’ve added one-click signature gathering to our admissions process so you can now collect signatures via text or email from all parties. No more bottlenecks. 

Problem: Your cash flow has slowed to a trickle. You’re not paid, or if you are paid, it’s not on time. Your “billing department” is an afterthought. Worst case? You’re tracking “money stuff” on a spreadsheet.

Solution: Step away from the spreadsheet and meet your new bespoke billing assistant, designed especially for sober living home operators. 

Create a services menu using the services book feature and change the pricing wherever you want. 

Take 10 different types of payment, including Venmo and CashApp, automatically through our resident portal. 

Let mom and dad cover payments easily with our simple multiple payer feature. 

Wasting time chasing late payments? Stop. Our recurring automatic billing assistant creates new bills as they become due and sends automatic reminders to residents until they pay up. 

Problem: COVID-19 has generated several new categories of information that you need to collect from residents. Temperatures and test results are buried in electronic notes or jotted down on stickies.  

Solution: Build COVID into your system. 

As we’re learning, the coronavirus is not temporary. This “new normal” is going to be happening for a while. We’ve accepted what we can’t change, and you can, too. In our summer update, you’ll find:

• Vital signs tracking (including temperature)

• COVID-19 test results tracking 

• Specific coronavirus risk-factor questions built into the new resident application 

Ready to See More? 

Our summer Admissions 2.0 Update is just the icing on the cake. 

The Sober Living App is the most powerful, most thoughtful all-in-one app for the sober living community on the market today. 

Operating sober living homes is hard, but it doesn’t have to be chaotic. Let us show you how easy (and profitable) it is to bring order to your sober living home. 

Claim your free trial today. 

4 Ways a Trauma-Informed Approach Can Help Your Sober Living Residents Cope with Pandemic Stress

A history of trauma is very common among sober living residents. As we continue to delve deeper into the pandemic, we are all being exposed to the shared secondary (or primary, in some instances) trauma of living through these disturbing times. The effects of going through such a turbulent time will no doubt be the object of much study in the years to come. 

As sober living home operators, what should we know about how trauma - past and present - are operating right now in our facilities? How can we support residents with a history of trauma during these traumatic times? What can we do to help residents cope with pandemic-related stress while building up their capacity for resilience? 

Today, we’ll look at four ways you can incorporate a trauma-informed approach into your sober living home’s COVID-19 playbook. 

Consider Screening New Sober Living Home Residents for Trauma

It’s difficult to address trauma when you don’t know it’s there. 

Implementing universal screening for trauma during your new resident application process helps you get to know what your residents are up against in terms of their lifetime trauma exposure. When an incoming resident has a high level of trauma in their past, you’ll know in advance. This can help inform how you respond to everything from “behavior issues” to interpersonal conflicts with your trauma exposed residents. 

Make The “New Normal” Predictable at Your Sober Living Home

For residents with a history of trauma, unpredictable environments feel unsafe. COVID has disturbed all of the daily routines and patterns that signal to our brains that everything is normal. When big pattern shifts occur - like the ones we are all experiencing around COVID - trauma affected residents are more likely to respond negatively to the change. 

That’s why it’s so important to create as much pattern and predictability in our “new normal” as possible for your residents. Do everything you can to make sure that your sober living home’s COVID guidelines are predictable and consistent. Develop new routines around cleaning, visitation and socializing so that your residents always know what to expect, even during these uncertain times.  

Institute the Buddy System or Other Peer Support Program at Your Sober Living Home

Does your sober living home offer in-house peer support? 

Do you have a buddy system between residents? 

If the answer is no, now might be a good time to start. Consider linking up “old timer” residents with new residents. When trauma affected residents are experiencing symptoms of isolation and dissociation, a quick check in with a buddy can help turn their day around.   

Get Curious About Problem Behaviors at Your Sober Living Home

Do you have a resident who is always breaking rules? Complaining? Starting fights? 

“Problem behaviors” are often warning signs of trauma. It’s tempting to ask such residents, “what’s wrong with you?,” but re-framing the question and asking, “what happened to you?” will most likely get better results. Often, the “problem behavior” you are picking up on is part of your resident’s trauma-related response. These responses might aggravate you, but your resident probably developed these behaviors as part of a survival strategy in response to their trauma. They are an expression of your resident’s will to survive in the face of adversity. 

Keep the Focus on Resilience at Your Sober Living Home

The sober living home community is resilient. Together we will make it through this pandemic. 

Infusing a trauma-informed response into your sober living home’s COVID-19 plan means treating your residents’ stress responses as normal rather than pathological. Helping your residents lean into healthy coping behaviors and veer away from negative patterns that no longer serve them helps build life-long resilience that will see them through the pandemic and beyond.

We’re Here to Help Your Sober Living Home Thrive

At Sober Living App, we know sober living and we’re committed to helping your sober living home thrive. 

Our software solution is saving time, money and sanity for sober living home operators across the country. 

We invite you to claim your free trial today.

5 Things All of the Best Sober Living Home Managers Have in Common

Finding a good sober living home manager is probably the most important ingredient to a successful sober living home business. Sure, the right building is important and good residents are key but if you flub up on selecting your manager, your sober living home is definitely headed for disaster.

Being a sober living home manager is a tough job. It takes a rare combination of empathy, tough love, and common sense to pull it off well. When you’re interviewing for potential sober living home managers, you’ll want to look for certain qualities in your candidates. Some sober living home manager skills can be taught but many of them—like the oh so important soft skills that play a large part in the role— are harder to learn on the job. 

Today, let’s look at the top 5 things all of the best sober living home managers have in common.

Good Sober Living Home Managers Are Organized

Ask any domestic engineer: running a home is a complicated matter. There are a ton of details to track and they change constantly. Anyone who struggles with keeping the toilet paper stocked up in their house can relate to how easy it is for the details of domestic functionality to get lost in the shuffle. 

Add to that the dividing and assigning chores to residents, tracking resident payments, managing group activities, scheduling drug testing, arranging for home maintenance work, maintaining residence vehicles, and everything else that goes into running a sober living home smoothly and you have quite the “to do” list to contend with.

Good sober living home managers are organized. They have systems (like the Sober Living App, perhaps?) to keep track of everything that needs to be done. Automated reminders and easy-to-use templates make the workflow easier to manage.  

Good Sober Living Home Managers are Consistent

A good sober living home manager is also a rule enforcer. Residents in recovery need structure to relearn sober living so they can thrive in their new lifestyle without drugs and alcohol. Sober living home rules help provide that structure in early recovery.

When it comes to rule enforcement, it is so important that your sober living home manager draws firm and consistent boundaries with residents. If residents perceive that your sober living home manager treats them unfairly, it is very easy for the home to devolve into chaos. 

A good sober living home manager will treat all residents equally and create systems that are built on fairness. They adhere to the rulebook at all times and don’t make exceptions lightly. They will not hesitate to enforce rules, especially when it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient.

Good Sober Living Home Managers are Proactive

The best sober living home managers are proactive, meaning thy anticipate problems and deal with them before they become crises. This includes everything from interpersonal conflicts to leaky pipes. 

A good sober living home manager is observant of their surroundings and is always looking for ways to improve what’s around them. They know that early intervention is the key to a well functioning home. 

Good Sober Living Home Managers are Awesome Communicators 

The best sober living home managers are top tier communicators. Their “people skills” come in handy when managing residents, sure, but they are also important when negotiating home repairs, dealing with prospective residents, and communicating with you, the owner. 

Find a sober living home manager who is responsive to your texts, calls and/or emails. It should be easy to get clear, concise information from your sober living home manager. A good sober living home manager loves to talk through problems and solutions. They value direct, open, and honest communication.

Good Sober Living Home Managers Document Everything

There is a lot to document at a sober living home: behavioral incidents, damage reports, rent payments, drug testing results, chores. A good sober living home manager doesn’t shy away from documentation, in fact, their motto is, “when in doubt, document.” Strong documentation not only helps with smooth day-to-day operations and easy bookkeeping, but it also helps coordinate care between managers and other players in the residents’ care team. Moreover, excellent documentation acts as a kind of insurance against liability claims or other potential disputes with residents, community members, or even maintenance workers. A good sober living home manager will never have to resort to “he said, she said” debates because they’ll have access to written documentation about most incidents. 

Every Good Sober Living Home Manager Needs the Right Tools to Get the Job Done

At BehaveHealth, we created the Sober Living App to help sober living home managers save their organizations time and money. Designed especially for the recovery industry, the Sober Living App eliminates paper record keeping and puts everything sober living home managers need at their fingertips at all times. 

From bed management to resident records to maintenance tasks, the Sober Living App automates the management of sober living homes in a frustration-free, intuitive format so that your staff can focus on providing excellent service to residents. 

Why not claim your free trial of the Sober Living App today?