The time spent in rehab is merely the first part of the addiction recovery process. From detox to therapy, a lot of time and effort is put into finding out the causes of the patient’s addiction. From there, the patient gets a great opportunity to develop the coping skills they will need to avoid relapses in the future.
The importance of developing better coping skills cannot be over stressed. The shear number of recovering drug users that fall back into addiction is alarming. For the most part, they are the ones that didn’t clearly understand the power of their addiction illness. They let triggers and temptation get in the way of their recovery, perhaps forgetting the devastation that drove them into rehab in the first place.
For the ones who did all the hard work in rehab and want to working equally hard at staying clean, they need to know it’s not an easy process. Every minute of every day of every month of every year, they have to understand who they are and what drugs and alcohol will do to their lives.
There is no such thing as a partial recovery outside of rehab. The individual either makes it or they don’t. They do path leads to a normal life where anything is possible. The don’t path is fraught with misery and devastation that leads to one of three places, prison, insanity or death.
What Does the Recovery Process Look Like After Rehab?
When the front doors of rehab open, the patient becomes a former patient who needs to be able to negotiate life on life’s terms. Their success is going to depend on keeping themselves out of harm’s way, and that’s never an easy thing to do.
During recovery after rehab, the recovering drug user will eventually return home to people, places and things their addiction was built around. There will be old friends and even family members they may have to eliminate from their lives. That would include drug dealers, fellow drug users and anyone that may be a source of stress in recovering user’s life.
There will be places they can’t go near. The wrong side of the tracks and perhaps bars will be the enemy. Places that illicit bad memories should also be high on the avoid list. Their time will be better-served by seeking out safer environments.
The things they have to avoid will include old habits that eventually turned into bad habits. They will have to make better choices that might include making new friends, eating better, getting more exercise and finding new hobbies to keep them occupied. The other thing they will need to do is seek out resources that can help them maintain sobriety. Three resources come to mind: sober living homes, 12-Step meetings and support within the family.
Sober Living Homes
Sometimes, a patient is sent out the door of rehab but not yet ready to take on all of their prior responsibilities. Sober living homes serve as the perfect place for someone to slowly reintegrate back into life on the outside. They will be required to follow rules that will help them form structure in their lives. They will live among other residents who are in very similar situations. That gives each individual an opportunity to build support from new relationships. As they progress, each resident is given more freedom and responsibility until they feel stable enough to fly solo with their sober wings.
12-Step Meetings
12-Step programs like NA, CA and AA offer great support for people in recovery. Under the covenants of these programs, members are given a road-map to building a stronger recovery that stands a real chance of lasting a lifetime. Member also gets a ready-made support system for times when things are not going well and the addiction monster begins to rear its ugly head.
Support Within the Family
The time spent after rehab should also be spent on rebuilding family relationships that may have been damaged during the addiction period. Every day of life, people need the love of their family members. Family members have close proximity and can help identify dangerous behavioral patterns. The best support group anyone will ever have is family.
We understand the trepidation you might feel towards leaving rehab after working hard to start recovery. If you receive treatment with us, we will do our best to equip with the tools you need to cope with life outside our facility. For more information about our treatment and aftercare programs, you can call us immediately at 844-639-8371.