What Happens After Addiction Treatment? Creating Goals for Recovery
Entering into addiction treatment may have been one of the hardest decisions of your life. Now that you’re in treatment and working towards recovery, you may be feeling some fear about the future. What will you be able to sustain your recovery without the support of treatment?
One of the things addiction treatment teaches is that you have the ability to change your future. It also teaches you that changing your future takes daily commitment, support and encouragement from others, and a desire to be healthy on all levels. It can be helpful to work with a therapist to explore what you want your future to look like. What will make your life feel fulfilling, meaningful, and joyful?
A Personal Recovery Plan
It’s sometimes beneficial to sit down and write out a personal recovery plan. This isn’t a plan you have to follow step-by-step, but it can provide you with a new way to look at what your life will be like without drugs and alcohol. Here are a few steps to keep in mind:
- Set Goals: First, identify the things that are most important to you. What changes do you want to see in your health, career, family life, or other areas? Write down just a few aspirations and goals.
- Wellness Needs: Leaving addiction therapy doesn’t mean you’re cured. You’ll likely need to continue with therapy, support groups, and mentors for some time. Write down what your wellness goals are, including physical, mental, and emotional goals.
- Steps: What steps do you need to take to achieve your goals? For example, you may need to go to school to earn a degree if you want to work in a specific field. You may need to work on rebuilding relationships before you can get married.
- Create daily goals: What can you do on a daily basis to achieve your goals? You might need to spend some time each day practicing or reading about a new skill, take time for self-reflection, meditate, and practice self-care.
- Know your triggers: A big part of being successful at your goals is knowing what your triggers are so you can work through them and avoid them. Triggers can include things like people, places, experiences, anniversaries, or stress.
Creating a Way to Get Help
A part of your personal addiction recovery plan needs to focus on having built-in ways to get help when you need it. Because you are at risk for relapse, it helps to have a step-by-step plan available to follow if you need to do so.
For many people, that means having a mentor or a person that you can turn to at just about any time of the day or the night if you feel as though you are going to relapse. You may also need to have a local support group to attend. You could create a routine plan for therapy with your current addiction therapists and counselors.
Write down how to get help, when to do so, and who to call. Make sure you keep this list nearby at all times. That way, you never have an excuse to not reach out for help.
Working on Relationships
Part of recovery is working on important relationships, such as with your parents, siblings, spouse, or children. During family therapy, you’ll learn how to move forward within those relationships. That may include learning how to take steps to rebuild trust or to work through past pain and trauma.
Having a plan in place before you leave treatment is important. These are people you will spend time with after you leave, and you need to know how to relate to them in a new way, free from the tensions of addiction. Create some clear boundaries and communicate with the people you love about what you will need from them and what you can give to them going forward.
Recovery Solutions – What Happens When You Leave?
Before you leave treatment, you’ll work closely with your addiction treatment therapists and medical team to ensure you’re ready to do so. You’ll also have an opportunity to speak to your team about your next step.
If you cannot go home due to it being an unsafe environment or because your family has not allowed this, you may be able to work with your team to find sober living communities. These are some of the best resources for those who are returning to life after addiction therapy. They allow you to gain skills, continue your therapy, and build confidence. You may get help finding a job or completing your education.
Sober living communities and aftercare help from Victory Addiction Recovery Center in Lafayette, LA, are some of the ways we help you to restart life in a strong, healthy place. If you think you’re ready to enter treatment and change your life for the better, reach out to us to learn more about our treatment options.