Why Continuing Care is Important after Drug and Alcohol Rehab

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Why Continuing Care is Important after Drug and
Alcohol Rehab
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You made it through detox and a substance abuse
treatment program. Now youre ready to say
goodbye to addiction and jump back into normal
life, right? Not so fast. Men and women who have
successfully completed addiction treatment
benefit from a continuing care program, also
called aftercare. Continuing care is the phase of
treatment that follows more intensive care,
whether that is residential treatment, a partial
hospitalization program (PHP) or an intensive
outpatient program (IOP). In continuing care,
individuals in recovery participate in group and
individual counseling, attend self-help meetings,
receive ongoing psychiatric care for co-occurring
mental illness, and possibly undergo drug and
alcohol monitoring. Together, these elements help
individuals in early recovery develop healthy
routines, strengthen recovery skills, stay
accountable and maintain their motivation to stay
sober.
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Studies indicate that the longer individuals
participate in continuing care, the more likely
they are to avoid relapse. Addiction is a
chronic brain disease and we have to treat it as
such, explains Dr. William S. Jacobs, Bluff
Plantation medical director and chief of
addiction medicine at the Medical College of
Georgia at Augusta University. We cant treat
this like an acute illness. This is about having
your brain hijacked by drugs. If we treat this
like the chronic illness that it is, then
patients are going to need to do maintenance
therapy just like a diabetic does to maintain
their blood sugar.
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Addiction treatment lays the foundation for
recovery Whether youre seeking care in a
residential substance abuse program, PHP or IOP,
each program has a clear start and end date.
Patients can make a significant progress in a
month or two of intensive addiction rehab. A lot
happens during that time. In Bluff Plantations
residential addiction treatment program, patients
begin by ridding the body of alcohol and drugs in
detox, so that they can start to heal physically
and mentally from the toxic substances. Patients
receive help with restoring normal sleep and
eating habits. They participate in various forms
of therapy in individual and group settings
designed rebuild their sense of self, overcome
shame and guilt associated with addiction, and
learn to cope with cravings without resorting to
drug or alcohol use. Patients are exposed to
holistic and experiential therapies, such as
yoga, animal-assisted therapy, exercise therapy,
horticulture therapy and culinary arts therapy.
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Patients are assessed by psychiatrists who can
diagnosis and treat co-occurring disorders,
adjust medications as needed and provide
psychotherapy to help patients deal with symptoms
of mental health disorders such as depression and
anxiety. Men and women can receive help in
dealing with past trauma. They also learn, or
re-learn, how to effectively communicate and
connect with others when not under the influence
of drugs or alcohol, as well as identify pursuits
and activities to enjoy in sobriety. In family
therapy, patients and their loved ones begin the
work of undoing the damage caused by the
addiction and the selfish, reckless and
destructive behavior associated with drug and
alcohol addiction. Sounds like a lot right? It
is. Addiction goes deeper than just substance
use. People often have many types of issues to
work through, relationships with themselves and
others to repair, co-occurring disorders to deal
with, and insomnia and poor nutrition habits to
overcome.
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They need to figure out who they are as sober
individuals. The brain itself also takes time to
return to normal functioning. The intensive
treatment phase is just the start of recovery
work. People need many months or years of support
from a clinical team, their peers as well as
family and friends along with their own
personal commitment to sobriety to prevent
relapse. Thats why continuing care is
important. We want them to do well in treatment
while theyre here with us, but we also want them
to achieve lifelong recovery, which is possible
with the right treatment and the right continuing
care, Jacobs said. Lets use the analogy of
building a house addiction treatment lays the
foundation, but continuing care helps individuals
build the structure they need to maintain a
healthy lifestyle, nurture healthy friendships
and relationships with family members, and resist
the temptation to use.
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Benefits of aftercare in drug and alcohol
rehab When an individual leaves drug and alcohol
treatment, he or she returns to the real world.
Jobs, family responsibilities and just
day-to-day-life can be stressful and frustrating.
Drugs and alcohol may be readily accessible,
making it all too easy to give in to a craving.
For people in early recovery, those weeks and
months after rehab can be treacherous. They have
developed new skills and strategies to support
sobriety during the intensive treatment phase,
but they havent had a chance to test those
skills in triggering situations. An aftercare or
continuing care program provides the support and
structure to keep people on track, so that the
good habits needed to maintain sobriety have the
time and space to become a way of life.
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Continuing care includes Recovery coaching
Recovery counselors, also called recovery
coaches, at Bluff Plantation help patients set
goals, develop the life skills necessary for
healthy relationships and productive careers, and
assist with overcoming barriers to recovery.
Recovery counselors help people in recovery
identify triggers, and come up with practical
solutions for coping with or avoiding triggers.
Recovery coaches also offer encouragement and
inspiration from a place of deep understanding
and compassion. They offer case management to
monitor progress, help patients become involved
with sources of community support and sober
recreation, and arrange for additional treatment
for co-occurring problems as needed. Learn more
about Bluff Plantations recovery counselors.
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Peer support Individuals in early recovery
benefit from fellowship with others who are also
in recovery. Peer support also provides a group
of caring individuals who men and women in
recovery can turn to when theyre having a bad
day, or when theyre celebrating a success and
want others to share it with. Having friends or
sponsors who are also in recovery can help people
avoid the tendency to isolate, which can be a
precursor to relapse. Bluff Plantations alumni
group provides an opportunity to connect with
others who have walked a similar path, who know
the struggles and who are rooting for your
recovery. Mutual aids groups such as Alcoholics
and Narcotics Anonymous are also great ways to
develop a network of sober peers. As part of
aftercare at Bluff Plantation, we ensure patients
have identified mutual aid groups in the
community where they feel most comfortable. There
are also many alternatives to AA and NA.
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Clinical team continuity Its not easy for
addicts to open up, express their emotions and
allow others to help them. In treatment, many
patients eventually let down their guard and
develop strong, trusting relationships with their
clinical team, including psychiatrists,
therapists and counselors. As part of continuing
care, former patients can continue to keep in
touch with their clinical team. The clinical team
will also collaborate with other psychiatrists,
therapists and counselors who the patient may see
going forward. Accountability Drug and alcohol
testing after a person has ended addiction
treatment has been shown to be an important
element of continuing care. A big reason for
ongoing substance use testing is that if a
patient tests positive for alcohol or drugs, the
clinical team can quickly intervene and guide the
individual back into more intensive care.
Stopping a relapse early on may help the
individual avoid the dangerous and potentially
deadly situations that result from using drugs
and alcohol. Getting back into treatment after
relapse can help the person quickly get their
recovery back on track.
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For these reasons and more, continuing care
should be considered a crucial phase of any
addiction treatment program. Continuing care
provides the support that can help people stay
sober during the transition out of treatment and
into their newly sober lives, the opportunity to
receive ongoing treatment for co-occurring
conditions, as well as the opportunity to
participate in ongoing group and individual
therapy that helps patients thrive as sober
individuals.