When we think of drug and alcohol treatment, we might think of a program that lasts a few weeks to a few months that will solve all of our issues. While treatment is an important and necessary first step for us to heal, it is not the end of the road. True recovery takes time, and continued therapy can help us maintain sobriety and continue to make beneficial changes. The road to long-term recovery is unique for every one of us. However, each of us needs to find ways to support the journey starting with treatment and extending past it.
Types of Therapy After Drug and Alcohol Treatment
In treatment, each of us will find the types of therapy that are most helpful. After treatment, we might continue with the type of therapy that was most successful or shift to a different style that helps us to work through the challenges that we are experiencing. Types of therapy that are often helpful after treatment include:
- Group therapy
- Individual therapy
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Grief therapy
- Trauma-focused therapy
Many of these types of therapy will be part of our program for drug and alcohol treatment. As a part of the program, they often focus on our goals in treatment. After treatment, the focus of each session will shift. Therefore, a therapy session might include discussing issues we are experiencing at work, how to better manage triggers, or difficulties inherent with the transition back into life after treatment.
Value of Therapy After Drug and Alcohol Treatment
After treatment, our work to recover from addiction is not over. This can create doubt that we can recover and live a sober life. Fortunately, therapy can help. By attending therapy in any form, we are putting ourselves in a situation where we can get help and support. This helps us stay sober by both decreasing our risk of relapse and helping us to maintain good mental health.
Decreasing the Risk of Relapse
Addiction is defined as a chronic relapsing condition. Similar to other chronic illnesses, addiction is something that we can recover from but will never be cured. While this can be disheartening, it is helpful for us to remember that our actions and choices can help us to stay sober. We can choose a path that helps us continue to stay sober after treatment.
Therapy after treatment is a very important piece of the puzzle when we are working on staying sober. In treatment, we learn new skills, improve our awareness, and learn techniques to manage triggers and cravings when we return home. However, returning home and using these tools and techniques is not simple. Relapse is often a result of forgetting these skills in a familiar environment where we have used substances. Sometimes it is difficult to choose a different path. This is where therapy comes in.
During a therapy session after treatment, we can continue learning new ways to live. In group therapy, we might share our struggles and hear about the issues others are experiencing. Through individual therapy, we can discuss how the skills we thought were going to be most helpful are not working as expected. Then we can learn how to make adjustments to these skills to benefit our lives.
Maintaining Mental Health
Many of us who struggle with addiction also have challenges with mental health. This might look like mental health disorders or simply not having a solid foundation of practices that help us to feel good regularly. Regardless of our specific challenges, maintaining our mental health is important. This is because poor mental health can lead to substance use as a way to manage how we feel.
Therapy is a common and effective way to improve mental health. Through therapy, we can discuss our challenges and seek support to make changes. After treatment, this may include learning how to incorporate new tools into our life at home that helped us improve our mental health in treatment. For example, in treatment our schedules we closely monitored. At home, they are not. However, managing and improving our schedule can help us to maintain good mental health.
Getting Help After Drug and Alcohol Treatment
Taking the first step of seeking treatment and getting help is important. For many of us, it is a difficult step to take. After treatment, it is normal for us to feel like we “should” be able to go at it alone. However, recovery is a lifelong journey. Getting help after treatment is a normal and important part of the process of healing.
When considering treatment centers, we need to keep this longevity factor in mind. Many treatment centers, including Buena Vista, offer treatment and support after treatment. This can provide us with consistent and continuous support that will help us to stay sober. That support will help us thrive even in the face of changes, challenges, and everything else that can arise in our lives.
Some of us might have the misconception that once treatment is over, we do not have to continue certain things like therapy. However, it is not true. We must continue to attend things like therapy after treatment to maintain long-term sobriety. Buena Vista is a treatment center that understands the need for continued support. These programs often begin with detox and treatment, and they continue by offering support and therapy after initial treatment. While recovery is a lifelong journey, we can make choices that help us to live a happy, fulfilling, and sober life after treatment. To learn more about the programs available at Buena Vista, call (480) 741-9414 today.
