Okay, you have made it through detoxification. You have made it through rehabilitation—and gained some valuable insights and personal resources through individual and group therapy sessions. It is almost time to head back out into the world.
You are probably excited.
You may also be extremely nervous.
After all, once you are back to your day-to-day routine, it might be all too easy to fall back into old patterns of behavior. You have done all of this work to get sober. But you have had a lot of help along the way. What if you can’t stay sober on your own? What then?
Those are good questions. And we have some good news.
Take Comfort in our Commitment to a Continuum of Care
You may be thinking that once you leave treatment you will be totally on your own—and that might be a scary thought.
But if you have chosen a treatment center—like French Creek Recovery—that is committed to a continuum of care, you will still have access to resources to help you maintain your hard-won sobriety.
What is a continuum of care? Simply this: an ongoing commitment to you and your recovery that extends beyond detox and rehab. This ongoing commitment includes a personalized approach to making sure the early days of your recovery are manageable.
To craft this personalized plan, the recovery center team will take a number of factors into account. For example, we’ll look at your overall physical health and how any health conditions might affect efforts to maintain sobriety. Similarly, any co-occurring mental health disorders—like anxiety, depression, or trauma-related disorders like post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—will be considered as a plan is developed. The strength of your support system—family members and friends who are committed to doing what it takes to help—is also taken into account.
Your personalized plan might include helping you make connections to a 12-Step (or other) recovery group that can provide the support that can be so helpful in the early days of recovery. You might also benefit from get-togethers and/or support groups made up of individuals who have gone through residential treatment at the same recovery center as you did; your shared experiences can help you prop one another up as you navigate home and work life. In some cases, an intensive outpatient program may be called for. For others, a temporary move to a “sober living home”—a shared living situation with others who are in recovery—may be appropriate and helpful.
Not One-Size-Fits-All
The key here is that every individual’s situation is unique and calls for a personalized approach. A continuum of care is not a one-size-fits-all tactic or a kind of lip service to the idea that you will need ongoing support. Instead, a treatment center like French Creek Recovery Center makes sure to connect you with the resources that are most likely to serve you well.
Still and all, you may feel nervous about leaving treatment. Plenty of challenges lie ahead—including the stress of daily life as well as the triggers and cravings that could make it difficult to resist the urge to return to old, destructive habits. That’s why a treatment center committed to a continuum of care will ensure that a recovery specialist is always available by phone. A recovery specialist can help in a variety of ways, including helping you weather intense cravings and connecting you to additional help and resources you may need.
Even With Personalized Care, Relapse Is Still a Reality
We want to be very clear: Even after you have completed detox and rehab and are taking advantage of a continuum of care, relapse is still a real possibility. In fact, relapse is pretty common in the early days of recovery.
Of course, we all wish that the recovery journey was easier. After all, you have done a lot of hard work to get to this point. It might feel as though a relapse is a major failure—and one from which you may be unable to recover.
But we encourage you to reframe a relapse as another step on the ongoing journey. The best thing you can do in the face of a relapse is return to treatment. Even if you are feeling defeated and ready to give up on treatment, try to put those feelings aside and reenter a treatment facility.
Here’s why: Once you have returned to treatment, your personalized plan can be refined. This fine-tuning will address the triggers that led to the relapse and identify new strategies for dealing with those triggers and other issues that may have undermined your sobriety. If you can think of this adjustment of your approach to recovery as another step along the continuum of care, you may be able to get past your feelings of failure and self-judgment. Remember, a relapse is never ideal, but neither is it the end of your opportunity to build a life of lasting sobriety.
We Are Here for You No Matter Where You Are on the Recovery Journey
At French Creek Recovery, we are committed to you and your sobriety. From detox to rehab to care after you leave treatment, we have the expertise, compassion, and access to the resources needed to support you as you pursue a life free from drugs and alcohol. The road to recovery is not always smooth, but we are always here to help you navigate the challenges so that you can celebrate your successes.