The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘We need standards’
Blumenthal proposes legislation to strengthen oversight of sober homes
TORRINGTON — A recovering opioid user could pay $1,400 a month to live in a sober home in Torrington that is missing exterior doors, has broken windows covered with cardboard and bare electric wires hanging from the ceiling.
But for $700, another person in recovery could live in suitable housing and receive support from professional health counselors.
The reason such different scenarios exist, according to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, is a lack of federal oversight of live-in recovery facilities. He convened a sober house roundtable discussion Wednesday at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital to share and gather information on the opioid epidemic in Litchfield County.
Blumenthal has introduced legislation calling for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration to develop and support best practices for sober-home providers. The “Ensuring Access to Quality Recovery Living Act” would address the crisis and help states implement plans for safety and improve data sharing between states. “We need standards across the country,” Blumenthal said
Proposed legislation to regulate sober homes, House Bill 5741, was approved last summer by the House of Representatives but was not taken up by the Senate.
Dan Smith, president of the new nonprofit organization Connecticut Alliance of Recovery Residences, said an annual audit of sober homes would allow recovery residences to become accredited and be listed on a statewide registry.
“We can separate the good from the bad,” he said, by blocking from the list what he calls “fly-by-night homes.”
Smith wants to see regulations to prevent those in recovery from being sent to a sober house lacking accreditation.
Further, statistics show that only one in 10 opioid users receives treatment.
“Many patients have significant trauma and drug-use history,” said Maria Coutant-Skinner, executive director of the McCall Center for Behavioral Health in Torrington. She defined a professionally administered sober home as akin to a five lane highway, while many unstructured sober homes could be perceived as on the level of a dirt road.
“This has been a priority for four years,” said Torrington Mayor Elinor Carbone. She said the city has 50 sober homes that provide various levels of services and resources.
“We see lapses in these homes,” she told the group.
She said there are many online ads for sober homes that provide no services and where relapses continue to occur.
“It’s difficult to run these places,” said Deb Turner, of Key Community Care Inc. The company operates seven sober houses in Torrington and one in Bristol. She said residents receive support from clinicians, psychiatrists, and nurses, but patients have still died in some of the company’s homes.
“Somebody could OD there as well as in their own home,” Turner added.
Blumenthal said the proposed federal legislation contains $6 billion in grants to help sober homes meet the new standards that would be required. However, approval for such a program could take several years. “In advance of the legislation, perhaps we can do a pilot program,” he said. “There are groups out there ready, willing and able to help.”
“There are groups out there ready, willing and able to help.” U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.