The goal and responsibility of treatment are to help you overcome your addiction and attain the tools to sustain a productive and meaningful life of sobriety. You should not view treatment as your only responsibility to overcome and rid yourself of your addiction, disease, or disorder. Remember, recovery is a lifelong process. For some, realizing the amount of work that goes into staying sober is intimidating and can deter them from seeking help.
While treatment cannot cure your addiction, it offers you a look at the person and life you could be living while sober, and this can stand to inspire and motivate you. It also connects you with people with whom you can form meaningful relationships to help keep you on the path to recovery. Still, you might worry about your responsibilities after treatment. So, let’s take a look at what happens after treatment ends and how you can best prepare yourself with an aftercare plan to handle everyday life challenges in the real world.
Leaving Treatment
Treatment can be a time of attaining peace and learning many new exciting things about yourself. Since you are focusing on your good traits, it can also be an inspiring and magical feeling. Discovering new and great things about yourself while in the comfort of having 24/7 care can also make you feel invincible, that is, this perception that you will always live in this euphoric state. The euphoric state is known as the “pink cloud” and is common in those who just completed initial treatment. However, these feelings subside when you enter back into the world. Everything still looks the same, though so much has changed. How can you move forward when a large part of your history in the community is rooted in addiction?
Ongoing Counseling
Treatment will help you connect and build a support group that keeps you motivated and accountable in times of need. Among these components needed in your recovery toolbox are counselors and therapists. Seeing a therapist will help you work through the emotional imbalances that you will experience after treatment. They will also help you think through and set up home coping skills to keep you on track. Effective therapies such as cognitive-behavioral therapy are great treatment modalities to help you evaluate your thoughts and attitudes toward yourself and others.
Since you are acclimating back into society, you will need to choose who your friends are. These are deciphering between the people who support your recovery and put your recovery needs first and the people who negatively influence you by judging you and trying to enable you to drink or use. Seeking professional counseling can help you work through the challenges of rebuilding or leaving relationships in your life.
Sober Living
If the thought of entering back into the real world is too much to handle, consider finding a sober living community. These are safe places to help you transition from treatment to regular life. While there is not as much structure offered as there is in a treatment center, there is plenty of support. They also include strict rules regarding abstinence and often conduct regular drug tests. Their main goal is to help further develop the responsibilities you would have when living on your own, including household chores, cooking, cleaning, and self-care practices: exercise, meditation, and continuing to attend and participate in meetings.
12-Step or Alternative Support Groups
In addition to attaining professional support, peer support is just as essential to your recovery. Joining 12-Step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous offer you a high support level. These programs provide personal responsibility and accountability and even create healthy relationships with non-using peers. Surrounding yourself with other sober and motivated people can have a profound impact on your recovery. Studies show that participating in 12-Step and alternative support groups decreases your relapse risk.
Vocational Rehabilitation
Unemployment could become a significant risk factor for relapse at any recovery point. The stress of not having financial stability affects both your mental and physical being. However, working with a therapist or counselor to prepare for exiting treatment to set up a job opportunity can help reduce your risk of relapse. Successful employment can even help improve self-esteem, self-identity, and self-efficacy in recovery. Work also helps provide daily structure and goals that can feel meaningful and productive. You can seek professional vocational counseling to help you with finding job placement.
Mental Healthcare
Often, an addiction diagnosis can inhibit feelings of anxiety or depression. Such diagnosis is known as dual diagnosis or comorbidity, and each disease or disorder needs appropriate treatment. It is essential that when developing an aftercare plan, you consider your mental health needs, including therapy, meditation, mindfulness, yoga, exercise, nutrition, and more. Treating all areas of your psychological and physical needs is essential in sustaining a lasting recovery.
Seeking treatment and sustaining a good aftercare plan takes work and could be intimidating. However, it will be the most rewarding thing you have ever done for yourself and sobriety. Don’t let negative thoughts become negative behaviors; stop existing in an imagined worst-case scenario, and get help today. At Avalon Malibu, we offer the amenities and healthcare professionals you need to help get you sober and keep you sober. Our mission is to meet you where you’re at in your addiction or recovery and strive to meet your individual needs to sustain life-long recovery, including helping you develop a strong aftercare plan. With an ocean side landscape, you will never be short of inspiration. We put your recovery needs first, and it is time you do the same. To find the purpose and meaning that has been missing in your life, reach out to Avalon Malibu today by calling us at (844) 857-5992.
