In Balance offers continuing care for alumni transitioning to living in Tucson after they graduate our Young Adult Collegiate or Transitional Living Programs. Many of our students want to stay connected to our community, live near by, live independently but also have some structure and accountability. Our alumni continuing care program can offer housing, drug testing, therapy, community activities and much more through In Balance Sober Park

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   In Balance Alumni Services is officially went from 6 separate houses, with 6 house managers, 6 different communities separate from each other, to one large (almost a whole city block) property that has 7 full houses on one property: with a pool, beach game area, skate park, outdoor gym, basketball court, built-in bbq area, ping pong tables, bocci ball, horse shoes, corn holes and more, with two full time live in house managers, an alumni specific therapist, program director and an academic advisor. This program is called In Balance Sober Park, or affectionately: The Park.

   It is only 2 blocks away from the University of Arizona campus, closer to Pima Community College and still close to our Young Adult Transitional Living and Collegiate Living programs. Not that this property is used exclusively for college students, but being close to the U of A means that we are close to all of the young adult resources it provides. We are able to incorporate our Collegiate Living/Recovery dorm dream into this property as well with an onsite academic advisor and academic resources. Meaning that if you are a college student, you will be 2 blocks from campus and we will offer the academic services, study sessions, and integration with the University of Arizona Campus all on this property as well. This will give alumni clients a real recovery community, while having the independent living and single bedrooms they really want and are ready for at this stage of their journey.

   Why is it called Sober Park you ask?  There was a study done quite some time ago about addiction and the brain. The study used rats in the experiment, got them addicted to morphine (science can be weird), then used a variety of methods to try and get their brains to chose food/water over the drug. What they found was that rats were continually using until they overdosed, or died of starvation because the drug took over all of their survival instincts. THEN they pulled some rats addicted to morphine out of isolation, moved them in with other rats in a nice enclosure where they could play, be social, have a nice view, and things to play with. They called this Rat Park (see Sober Park makes sense now doesn't it). What they found was this environment and social setting made the rats decide not to keep using morphine, even with it readily available. This principle is something we have always applied to all of our programs: young people in recovery need a fun, exciting, social setting and a positive social community to continue being in recovery (along with 12 steps, therapy, and accountability). (Read about the experiment here: lifelineconnections.org).