As you near the end of your addiction treatment program, you will have the opportunity to create an aftercare plan. This plan is essential to your recovery as it is a road map for maintaining sobriety. Your after-addiction treatment plan can include group meetings, individual counseling, exercise routines, work schedules, and anything else you want to help maintain a structured routine.
What Is After-Addiction Treatment?
After-addiction treatment consists of the tools, techniques, and skills you learned in rehab to help you cope with cravings, stress, anxiety, and other emotions. It also includes interpersonal skills to help you interact with family and friends to rebuild damaged relationships.
Another essential component of after-addiction treatment is group meetings and individual counseling to help provide continued support. Your support network could include meetings with your sponsor, peer support, and participating in sober activities, such as sports, movie nights, game nights, and social outings.
Essentially, your aftercare treatment plan can include anything that will benefit you and help you remain sober.
After-Addiction Treatment Should Include Relapse Prevention
Another vital part of after-addiction treatment is including a relapse prevention plan. No one wants to relapse, but life happens, and people make mistakes. Having a relapse prevention plan in place can help reduce the likelihood you will relapse. If you do, your plan also guides you on getting back on track with your sobriety.
After-Addiction Treatment Tips
#1. Take Your Time
Recovery is an ongoing daily process that takes time. You probably felt safe and secure while in treatment. However, when returning to the real world, it is easy to become overwhelmed by work, returning home, and being around your family and friends.
The best thing to do is slow down, focus on one task at a time, maintain open communication, and establish boundaries. While family and friends will set expectations for your recovery, it is essential to remember you must do what is best for you and go at your own pace, one minute at a time, one hour at a time, one day at a time.
#2. Be Prepared to Come Out of Your Pink Cloud
When many people leave rehab and return home, they are in the pink cloud phase of their recovery. They can feel confident and excited about how well they have done so far. Some people feel excited and experience a sense of euphoria because they feel so good about themselves.
However, this phase is only temporary. You need to maintain your confidence in your recovery efforts once you return home. You may not have the luxury of being able to focus 100 percent on your recovery.
You can feel pulled in multiple directions from work, family commitments, friends, and other responsibilities. But life outside of rehab did not stop while you were gone. So, it can quickly pull you out of your pink cloud and back to reality.
Unfortunately, when this occurs for some people, it is hard to continue focusing on their sobriety. Just remember to put your needs first. It is okay to take a step back and reduce your number of commitments so that you can focus on your aftercare plan.
#3. Make Time for Yourself
One of the biggest mistakes people make after rehab is forgetting to make time for themselves. Yes, you will have to go to work, attend meetings, and manage your other responsibilities.
However, you always found the time when you were drinking or using drugs. So, you should be able to use that time to do things for yourself, such as exercising, medication, hobbies, gardening, or anything else that benefits your recovery.
#4. Keep Your Routines Balanced
Keeping your daily routines balanced is vital to avoid becoming overly obsessed with one thing and neglecting other things. For example, you may enjoy exercising because it makes you feel good and allows you to focus.
You may start exercising several times a day while starting to skip meetings, cancel social activities with friends, and ignore other parts of your aftercare plan. If you notice you are doing this, take a step back. It is normal when we are in recovery because we are afraid of disappointing our family and friends.
We want to show them we can remain sober. However, this can cause us to be overly obsessed due to our addictive tendencies. So, the best thing to do is to maintain flexibility and balance your daily routines with a wide range of things that will benefit your recovery and sobriety.
#5. It Is Okay to Say No
Our family and friends often mean well. However, they may not fully understand addiction and the recovery process. As a result, they may struggle and not fully understand why you need to attend meetings, visit with your sponsor, or go to counseling.
They might also think they know what is best for you and your recovery and start making suggestions or wanting you to do something different. For example, they could want you to go out or put you in a situation like a party where everyone will be drinking and possibly using drugs.
When these things occur, it is perfectly acceptable to thank them for their concern and tell them no. But instead, Take the time to educate them about addiction and recovery, such as asking them to go to a meeting with you or attend group counseling.
Rehab and After-Addiction Treatment in Orange County, CA
Pacific Sands Recovery Center in Orange County, CA, is pleased to offer personalized rehab and aftercare treatment programs. We provide the support and care you need for recovery at our IMS and JCAHO-accredited treatment center. For further information, contact us or visit our admissions page today.
