Structure and having accountability is vitally important in early recovery. The minimum length of stay for residential treatment is 28 days. It generally takes at least one month to break an old habit and instill new ones that promote healthy coping skills. With that said, we do recommend that, if a person is serious about their long term sobriety, that’s they attend residential treatment for at least three months. Learning to live an entirely new way of life is not easy and does take time to do. You can’t expect to take away months or years of drug and alcohol abuse and and unhealthy way of life in a matter of 1 month. You came to rely on a chemical substance in your every day life. This means you will have to change much more in your life than just ridding your body of drugs and alcohol. It is important that you learn how to replace the drugs and alcohol with other healthy habits. This process takes time.