(424) 242-1130
At Design for Recovery, we believe that becoming sober involves much more than merely abstaining from psychoactive substances. It is about creating a new life that makes it easier not to use when the inevitable cravings and temptations of early sobriety rear their ugly heads.
To quote French filmmaker and writer Jean Cocteau, “The dead drug leaves a ghost behind. At certain hours, it haunts the house.”
By creating a stable career and developing personal autonomy, young men in early sobriety can step off the emotional rollercoaster they spent most of their lives riding. This not only reduces the chances of relapse, but it also provides young men with lives they value, lives that they’d be reluctant to throw away.
While employment and financial stability can lower the likelihood of relapse, the benefits of employment go well beyond that. At Design for Recovery, it is our philosophy that sobriety is about building a life, not just to ensure sobriety, but to live out one's full potential. Most young men seek recovery not because they hate drugs and alcohol but love the idea of getting sober. Rather, they decide to enter recovery because they’re deeply unhappy, and substance abuse is getting in the way of living prosperous and fulfilling lives.
At Design for Recovery, recovery doesn’t stop when an individual has stopped using drugs. That’s when recovery truly begins, when they can begin changing their lives and living out their dreams.
Employment Gaps & Addiction: What Residents Are Facing
Employment Gaps & Addiction: What Residents Are Facing
Employment Gaps & Addiction: What Residents Are Facing
Employment Gaps & Addiction: What Residents Are FacingMany new residents at Design for Recovery arrive with little to no employment history. While some residents did have jobs or careers, their relationship with their jobs was often marred by the consequences of regular substance abuse. Others find themselves in dead-end jobs or life-draining careers that they did not choose for themselves. During active addiction, people are not in control of their own lives. Career ambitions fall by the wayside to make way for more harmful priorities, and even eking out the most meager living can be a struggle.
It is common for young men with addictions to face numerous workplace problems. Because substance abuse can lead to impulsive, violent, and unpredictable behavior, many experience interpersonal conflicts with coworkers and employers. During hangovers or periods of withdrawal, it can be hard to muster up the willpower to get out of bed in the morning and go to work. Absenteeism is common. Addicts who do manage to get to work every day often nonetheless do a shoddy job and are written up for performance issues. While some manage to hang on to their jobs by a thread, it is quite common for young men with addictions to be fired from their jobs, often repeatedly.
Employment support is part of a unique approach at Design for Recovery, one where the focus is on long-term sobriety and financial independence beyond the walls of sober living—that removing drugs and alcohol only begins the process of rebuilding a broken life.
Again, this is an evidence-based approach supported by organizations like The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which includes employment support in what it calls “sustained recovery management.” More specifically, “a positive alternative to the current common approach of ‘admit, treat, and discharge’, often resulting in revolving-door cycles of high dropout rates, post-treatment relapse and readmission rates.”
Design for Recovery’s Employment Support Services
Employment support at Design for Recovery isn't generic job coaching. It's tailored support designed specifically for people rebuilding work life after addiction.
Here's what residents get:
Resume Support and Job Application Assistance
Many residents haven't updated a resume in years. Some have never written one. Some have gaps they're not sure how to address.
Our team works one-on-one with residents to create or rebuild resumes that honestly represent their experience while positioning them for success.
Once the resume is solid, we support residents through the application process. Many employers use online systems that feel confusing or overwhelming. We help residents navigate those. We make sure applications are complete and submitted properly.
Job Search Resources and Connections
We don't just tell residents to 'go find a job.' We actively connect them with opportunities.
Design for Recovery has relationships with employers throughout Los Angeles who understand recovery and are willing to hire residents. We have access to job boards and resources specifically designed for people rebuilding employment. We help residents identify companies and roles that align with their interests and capabilities.
Interview Preparation and Practice
Getting the interview is one thing. Performing well in it is another.
Residents work through mock interviews with our team. We help them prepare for common questions. We work on how to address past employment gaps or criminal history honestly and briefly, without dwelling on it. We practice so that residents feel more confident and less anxious when they walk into the actual interview.
Networking Within the Recovery Community
One of the biggest advantages residents have is a connection to the recovery community in Los Angeles.
We help residents build that network intentionally. Through 12-step meetings, through connections with sponsors and mentors, through interactions with other residents and alumni, job leads emerge. People hear about opportunities. They learn about companies that are good to work for. They meet people who can vouch for them.
Workplace Skills Coaching
Some residents need support with the actual work skills—how to communicate with a supervisor, how to accept feedback, how to manage conflict, how to stay organized, and how to ask for help when you need it.
We work through these real-world situations. We talk through scenarios before they happen so residents feel more prepared. We help them understand that workplace relationships are just relationships—they require respect, honesty, and effort, like any other relationship.
Job Retention Support and Stress Management
Landing the job is the beginning, not the end. Keeping it while managing early recovery stress is the real challenge.
When residents start working, we stay connected. We check in about how it's going. We help residents work through workplace stress without turning to using.
Connection to Longer-Term Career Planning
The first job is important, but it's not the end goal for most residents.
As residents settle into work and stabilize their recovery, we help them think about longer-term career goals. Do they want to move into a different type of work? Go back to school? Start a business? Learn a trade?
We help residents create plans for those goals. We help them understand what steps make sense right now versus what to work toward later.
Ready to Work Toward Your Future?
Pursuing Ambitions and Long-Term Sobriety
Design for Recovery works individually with every resident to help them formulate a plan to achieve these goals. Starting a business requires a plan, social contacts, and a great deal of savings. Becoming a doctor or a lawyer requires going back to school. With these end goals in mind, residents at
While working their job at Design for Recovery, residents develop character and skills they can take with them down any career path, but we also make sure they are taking the proper steps toward the latter goal.
Finding employment is, of course, only step one of achieving financial autonomy. Design for Recovery is also committed to offering money management services to all residents.
With its commitment to employment support, Design for Recovery stays true to its mission of helping young men find a passion for life that they lost while trapped in the hell of addiction.
As the old saying goes, “Recovery does not open the gates to heaven and let us in, but also opens the gates of hell and lets us out.”
Ready to break free from addiction?
Contact us now and let Design for Recovery guide you toward a brighter tomorrow.
Learn to live a Sober, Vibrant & Substance-Free Life
Tough days might come, but with our supportive sober community, you're never alone.
We're here to provide guidance and support for anyone on their sober living journey.
Our success stories stand testament.
Have a confidential chat with our team about admission details, house guidelines, and community support.