Following on from your treatment at a drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, you may realize it is necessary to drop former relationships in favor of making positive and lasting changes in your personal and social life. Rebuilding your life following your treatment plan’s initial stages, as your therapist or case manager may have told you, is critical if you are to make lasting changes. Rebuilding your life is exactly as it sounds. You are restructuring every facet of your life to include not only daily living activities but, importantly, your relationships with family and social contacts.
The Resistance
Rebuilding may not always be so easy. Family and friends who may be stuck in their disruptive behavior patterns or limited thinking may not be as supportive of your decisions and your desire for healthy change as you might have expected. Change can be scary for everyone involved, especially if close family members are concerned about how they may fit into your new life. Additionally, they may resent the idea of family secrets thrust front and center of a therapy session.
You may recognize some of these along your path to recovery:
- Your desire for treatment and long term change is ridiculed and criticized.
- Drug dealers reach out and harass you or accuse you of becoming an informant for the police.
- Former friends may claim you are a “sell out” and emotionally or threaten to assault you physically.
Coping with Changes
Considering other challenges, such as learning to handle the emotional changes of opening up to people, communicating honestly for possibly the first time, and establishing a network of reliable friends who understand and relate to your challenges, is vital. Admitting that past behaviors were destructive, and dealing with the guilt that often comes with that, can be difficult. These struggles may mean you wish to hang on to the familiarity of old friends and acquaintances. Nevertheless, establishing new, healthy relationships built around support and recovery goals will make the more challenging times of your recovery easier to bear. Over time, the work you put into building and sustaining new relationships is worth the effort when measured against the risk of returning to destructive patterns of behavior.
Long-Lasting Change
Any addiction and rehabilitation program’s goal should be to support long-lasting changes designed to improve the quality of your physical and mental health and the relationships that exist around you. This holistic approach to treatment recognizes the entire person re-entering and navigating their way through society, not mere pieces of it.
In other words, you are more than the substance you put into your body. You are more than the anxiety or the depression you feel. The goal should be to restore the whole person who needs to work, raise children, make constructive financial decisions, and generally be fully integrated into society.
Since human beings are social creatures, cultivating and maintaining appropriate peer support for long term wellness success should be encouraged.
Benefits of Peer Support
Accountability:
Knowing you are accountable to another member of your support network may help keep you motivated. As you continue to build new relationships, knowing a relapse may disappoint a developing friendship may be enough to help keep you motivated.
Coping With Stress
When it comes to managing real life, a healthy social support network is a critical factor in long term success. Helping you deal with the everyday challenges and stressors associated with daily living, appropriate friends also play a crucial role in coping with more severe events such as the death of loved ones. Under these circumstances, knowing who you can trust to provide appropriate support while watching to make sure you don’t backslide into a relapse can make an essential difference between dealing with the pain of loss without substance support or burying it beneath unhealthy behaviors.
Modeling Behavior
Not only do you get the opportunity to listen to advice and encouragement during difficult times from someone more experienced than you, but one day you may be in a position to provide support to someone just starting their journey toward recovery. Knowing you might be a role model for somebody that is not as far along the road as you can be enough motivation to stay healthy and recover.
Maintaining contact with trusted peer support following an addiction or an intensive rehabilitation program is key to long term success. When you attempt recovery in total isolation, you’re likely to slip into former lifestyle habits leading to complete relapsing of all your efforts. Additionally, you may be vulnerable to former contacts still active in the provision of narcotics. Peer support will be an invaluable resource during challenging times. Situated in the heart of picturesque Ocala National Forest, Florida, The Guest House provides residential and outpatient programs to treat addiction, PTSD, depression, other mental health, and substance abuse issues. Set amongst peaceful, elegant surroundings teeming with wildlife, there’s ample opportunity for reflection on your journey toward recovery. We provide unparalleled, premier-quality treatment and are uniquely equipped to help start you on your journey to healing. Concierge treatment options include psychodrama, meditation, brain spotting, equine therapy, art, and music, and of course, group support. The Guest House Ocala prides itself on providing a genuinely holistic approach to long term wellness and support. Ready to restart your life? Call Guest House right now at (855) 483-7800. Our staff can’t wait to meet you – you don’t have to heal alone.