---
title: "Alcohol and Substance Use Monitoring"
url: https://torchlightrecoverygroup.com/intervention/alcohol-substance-use-monitoring/
description: "Alcohol and drug monitoring gives families a clear, objective answer instead of suspicion and arguments: remote breathalyzer testing, saliva drug screens, and results shared with the people you choose."
---
# Alcohol and Substance Use Monitoring

## An honest answer instead of a guessing game

After treatment, one question hangs over everything: are they using? Without a good answer, families end up watching, suspecting, and arguing. Monitoring replaces that with a fact. It tells everyone, including the person in recovery, exactly where things stand.

Torchlight offers monitoring on its own or as part of Collaborative Continuing Care.

## Alcohol monitoring

Alcohol is monitored with a breathalyzer. Torchlight is a Soberlink provider. Soberlink is a remote breathalyzer that confirms who is using it with facial recognition and sends each result in real time to the people the client has chosen, so nobody has to be in the room.

Alcohol monitoring can include:

- Scheduled and random tests
- Results sent immediately by text and email
- Results shared with the family and the Care Coordinator, as agreed
- Changes to the recovery plan when the results change

## Drug monitoring

Drug use is monitored mainly with saliva tests, which pick up recent use.

Drug monitoring can include:

- Scheduled and random saliva tests
- Screening for opioids, stimulants, benzodiazepines, and other commonly misused drugs
- Prompt reporting of results
- Coordination with the Care Coordinator and the rest of the support team

Catching a slip early means it can be dealt with before it becomes a relapse.

## What monitoring is, and is not

Monitoring is not punishment. It is clarity. As part of a recovery plan, it gives families:

- A clear, objective picture instead of suspicion
- Fewer arguments
- A reason to trust progress when it is real
- Early warning when it is not

## Part of a bigger plan

Results are never read on their own. Torchlight's Care Coordinators help make sense of them, adjust the plan when needed, and keep your loved one, the family, and the providers on the same page.

## Getting started

If your family wants a straightforward way to know how recovery is going, monitoring can help. Call and we will work out the right level of testing and support.

## Questions families ask

### What is alcohol and drug monitoring?

Regular testing that shows whether someone is drinking or using, so the family has facts instead of guesses.

### How does alcohol monitoring work?

With a breathalyzer, scheduled or at random. Results are immediate and go by text and email to the people you have agreed on.

### What kind of drug testing is used?

Mostly saliva tests, which detect recent use of opioids, stimulants, benzodiazepines, and other commonly misused drugs.

### Who sees the results?

Whoever you agree on at the start: usually the person being tested, the family, and the Care Coordinator.

### Is monitoring part of a bigger program?

It can be part of continuing care or used on its own. Either way, someone helps interpret the results and adjust the plan.

### Does monitoring prevent relapse?

It catches slips early and keeps people honest, which lowers the chance of a full relapse and lets us step in fast when something is wrong.