Brightside Sober Living

About Brightside Sober Living

Brightside Sober Living is a sober living operator based in Austin, Texas, running six certified-free, privately funded recovery residences across Travis County. Scott and Carrie Smith started the company after their own stays in court-ordered and treatment-referred sober housing, and they built Brightside around the structure they wish they had had.

An Austin Sober Living Operator Built From Personal Recovery

Scott spent 90 days in a sober home under a court order, and Carrie was referred to one by her treatment center. Both credit roughly a year in sober living with changing the course of their recovery. Brightside is their attempt to combine twelve step recovery, accountability and a sense of home into houses other people can move into.

Six Sober Living Homes Across Austin

Brightside operates six residences inside Austin, split evenly between men and women:

• Brightside Men's Home - Cricket Hollow Drive in Austin, for men.
• Brightside Women's Home - Cricket Hollow Drive in Austin, for women.
• Brightside Men's Home - South Meadows Drive in Austin, for men.
• Brightside Women's Home - Eubank Drive in Austin, for women.
• Brightside Men's Home - Cripple Creek Drive in Austin, for men.
• Brightside Women's Home - Cooper Hill Drive in Austin, for women.

Keeping the split at the house level means every set of house rules and shared space is written for one population.

Serving Men and Women in Recovery

Three of Brightside's houses serve men and three serve women, and the company treats them as separate households with their own bedrooms, kitchens and common areas. Amenities are consistent across all six: furnished rooms, cable, Wi-Fi and basic household supplies are included at every address.

What Sober Living Certification Means in Texas

Texas has no state license for recovery residences. The one certifying body operating in the state is the Texas Recovery Oriented Housing Network, and certification through it is voluntary. Brightside is not on that list, which is true of most privately run sober homes in Texas and is not itself a mark against the operator.

Recovery Housing for Austin and Travis County

All six Brightside houses sit inside Austin, the seat of Travis County and the state capital, close to the bus routes, employers and outpatient providers a resident needs in the first months out of treatment. Concentrating the portfolio in one city keeps every house within reach of the same transit network and job market.