When was your last check-up? Maybe it was your yearly physical with your primary care physician. Maybe it was an appointment with your dentist to make sure your teeth and gums are healthy. Maybe it was a follow-up with a specialist to see how your recovery from surgery is going or to ensure that your diabetes is still well-managed.
Most any kind of check-up is a good idea for maintaining and improving your health. And that includes a recovery check-up.
Maybe you have never thought about a recovery check-up or what it would entail. But given that a substance use disorder is a chronic brain disorder, it only makes sense to treat it like you do any other aspect of your health. Let’s take a look at what you might do to take a regular and intentional look at how your recovery is going.
A Recovery Check-up Might Involve Multiple Professionals
In some important ways, the foundations of your recovery are varied. That means you may need to talk with more than a single professional to get a comprehensive sense of how you are doing. Your recovery is made up of:
- Your physical health
- Your emotional well-being
- The quality of your relationships
- The intensity of your stress levels
- Your access to ongoing social support
Who you should see for those first two categories—physical health and emotional well-being—probably seems obvious. Your medical doctor is best equipped to consider your physical health, while your mental health professional is likely the best person to talk with about your emotional health.
In the last three categories, you may have a number of options. When it comes to your relationships, you might be well-served by family therapy. There are a variety of ways to measure and address your stress levels. For example, you might find that a regular massage is a good approach for you. As for your social support, you might need to consult with someone—your sponsor or someone from your treatment center—who can point you toward good resources for addressing challenges of various kinds.
What Will the Results of Your Check-up Be?
As with all the other kinds of check-ups we have mentioned, it is possible your recovery check-up will result in the equivalent of a clean bill of health. But there is a good chance that this careful look at how you are doing in recovery will help you spot some areas in which you could improve.
For example, good nutrition is essential for your physical and mental health, and a check-in with a doctor or nutritionist might help you identify changes you might make to improve the healthfulness of your diet.
A conversation with a mental health professional might lead to a medication adjustment or point toward a possible change in your current approach to therapy. Your sponsor might suggest you add a recovery meeting to your regular schedule, or your doctor might suggest an exercise routine that will support your physical health while also helping address your stress levels effectively.
The results of your recovery check-in will, of course, be unique to you. The value of the exercise lies in finding the potential opportunities for positive change that will help keep your recovery on track. We encourage you to make the appointments, do the listening and deep thinking, and make steady changes for the better that will support your recovery.
Start Your Recovery Journey at French Creek
When you are struggling with drugs or alcohol, it can seem as though you will never be able to take back control of your life. You know you can’t keep using substances the way you have been, but the severe symptoms that accompany withdrawal can force you right back to them when you try to quit on your own. Meanwhile, your physical and mental health continue to deteriorate and your relationships, ability to work, finances, and more fall apart. It can feel as though there simply is no escape from the truly terrible situation you find yourself in.
Fortunately, however, there is a way to safely and effectively clear your system of drugs and alcohol so that you are able to start again. At French Creek Recovery Center—located in Meadville, Pennsylvania—we offer medically supervised detoxification, which lessens the rigors of withdrawal and ensures you do not have access to substances that might tempt you.
Detoxification is followed by a robust rehabilitation program grounded in group and individual therapy sessions and designed to give you the strategies, resources, and encouragement you will need to get your recovery journey underway at the end of treatment. But the end of treatment is not the end of the support you will receive from French Creek. Our aftercare program provides opportunities to stay connected with others who understand what you have been through and what challenges you are facing now.
When you are ready to make a change, we are ready to help. Let us help you rebuild your life for a better future.