TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL)-- An organization in Tallahassee is hoping to convince lawmakers that sober houses in the state of Florida need tighter regulations.
It's called the Florida Association of Recovery Residences, or FARR,
and it operates like an audit system "sober homes." Recovery homes offer transitional assistance for people dealing with substance abuse.
The agency wants tighter regulations on these type of facilities to make sure all policies are being followed and to ensure that patients are not being taken advantage of.
John Lehman, the president of FARR, explained the certification process.
There's a rigorous process where we review all their policies and procedures, their house rules, the consequences for those rules, insurance certificates etc. Then we go out and visit the site. We interview staff. We interview residents. We make certain that those policies and procedures are actually being implemented in the field and when we're satisfied, we put our stamp of approval on it. We hold them accountable to maintain the integrity of that certification through audit inspections, grievance inspections, etc.," said Lehman.
Certification is completely voluntary and so far more than 700 facilities in the state have signed up. However, in Tallahassee there haven't been any recovery homes sign up for the certification process.
The proposal has already passed unanimously in at least 1 committee in both the Senate and House. If approved, regulations would go into affect July 1st 2016 and any facility not certified after that date loses their eligibility for referrals.
