aftercare program - Sustain Recovery

Identifying a Good Aftercare Program for Teens

January 19, 2017 9:57 AM Leave a Comment

Addiction is chronic and requires constant vigilance. Recovery from addiction is a long-term commitment to sobriety to avoid relapse. Aftercare is a necessary part of treatment that lasts much longer than initial rehab. Aftercare can be essential to securing an individual’s commitment to recovery.

Aftercare

Aftercare options vary and may take research but residential rehabs offer aftercare services to help individuals with addiction. Many aftercare programs follow a format relying on group sessions focused on relapse prevention, job skills and relationship skills. Improving relational skills is important to help an individual repair relationships damaged through addiction. Supportive family can be important to facilitating better recovery odds of staying clean. Programs which address partial recovery needs (child care, housing, job support) tend to be more effective than those that do not.

Participation

Drop-out rates hover around 50% but some factors may increase retention in aftercare programs which include staff offering transportation services as well as ongoing support throughout the program. Finding a high quality program is essential to increasing positive participation in the program and make sure retention remains high.

Quality Programs

When doing homework on programs, it is important to focus on accredited programs that offer adherence to a certain standard of quality which many aftercare programs either lack or disregard. Reputable bodies including the Joint Commission and Council on Accreditation and Commission of Rehabilitation Facilities support quality programs. Other factors to inquire about are the frequency of staff turnover, number of licensed professionals on staff and what professional certifications exist.

Types of Programs

Two types of structured aftercare programs including outpatient patient programs and sober living or halfway houses. Both allow for continued recovery work following completion of a residential or inpatient detox and treatment.

Outpatient programs

Outpatient programs typically take place in a clinic or office location where daily therapeutic and educational groups are held. When leaving inpatient treatment, the recommendation is to attend five days a week and step down two or three days a week as individuals progress. Living at home while attending is common and many go back to school or even work.

Sober Living

Halfway houses and sober living houses are more structured living settings which provide a safe and drug-free environment to transition into. Certain homes are for those who are court-mandated to live there and if the individual was released from prison can help transition into daily life.

Sustain Recovery provides a unique approach to adolescent care. Focused on individual needs and resident progress, Sustain believes in supporting young people with focused, intentional care to help them recover fully from addiction. Call us to find out more information.

Helping a Loved One Avoid Relapse

December 21, 2016 10:08 AM Leave a Comment

Maintaining sobriety in the long-term can be just as difficult as the detox-and-rehabilitation process, especially since it’s up to the recovering addict to manage themselves. Those who attending community support groups and maintain a network of support within your home and social life have the best odds of staying sober and happy.

To help your loved one get past their addiction, help them succeed in the following areas.

Avoiding Temptation

Cliche, I know, but this is a crucial element of long-term sobriety: accepting that we do not have all the power; that certain places, people, and things must be avoided, not conquered, in order to beat them. A common refrain among the casual public is that temptation is unavoidable. On the contrary, addiction is partly a disease of willpower, and avoiding temptation is entirely practical. What isn’t practical is putting yourself in tempting situations necessarily.

Maintaining a Support System

This is what should replace the tempting elements in their previous, drug-using life. It seems simple and obvious, but it’s not, because those who want us to succeed are not always those who are helpful. Sometimes our most passionate friendships and relationships are totally counterproductive. Maybe those friends or family members are drug users themselves, or maybe, for whatever reason, you associate them with painful memories that you just can’t stand. Comfort and support are not mutually exclusive, but they are often separate.

Staying Humble

When life seems to be going well, there is a tendency to fizzle out on our aftercare treatment obligations like AA. That’s a problem, because just one slip can send you back down the rabbit hole of addiction. You want to maintain some sort of support system not as a reminder that your life is messy, but as a fail safe to maintain clean living.

If You Do Relapse, Don’t Abandon Ship

Have you ever spent hours writing an essay or assignment of some kind only to have your computer crash and all progress lost? The thought of starting over is so infuriating, and so daunting, that you probably considered walking away and failing the assignment. The same goes for a drug relapse, except that this is a much more important assignment, and it’s going to be a lot harder to pick up your pencil the next day. If you have to, you will.

To help yourself avoid relapse, we recommend immersing yourself in some of our fantastic aftercare programs

Tag Archive: aftercare program

Identifying a Good Aftercare Program for Teens

Helping a Loved One Avoid Relapse

Avoiding Temptation

Maintaining a Support System

Staying Humble

If You Do Relapse, Don’t Abandon Ship

Links

Affiliations

Contact Us