Your recovery from drugs and alcohol can take several weeks, months, or even over a year to treat. Maintaining your recovery, however, often takes a lifetime. Throughout your sober journey, you will likely need to lean on the support of family and friends. Another anchor in your support system should be your therapists and peers who understand your struggles. Often, the best way to maintain these contacts is in an alumni aftercare program.
The Importance of a Drug Rehab Aftercare Program
Life after rehab is challenging, especially in the first weeks after recovery. Managing your addiction begins to feel like second nature behind rehab doors, but when you’re out in the world, things may seem upside down at first. You’ll likely face the same temptations and stress that brought you to rehab but lacking the consistency and structure of your addiction treatment. You might even arrive at a point where you begin to wonder if rehab helped you or changed you in all the ways it was supposed to. But, if you find yourself feeling lost and rudderless after returning to your daily life, it’s also possible that you’re still on the right path because these feelings are entirely normal. You’re in recovery, which is a lifelong endeavor.
Aftercare and alumni programs are critical components of the support system you will rely on to keep you steady and focused along your journey. Dedication to your recovery after rehab keeps you on a continuous path and prevents a relapse from distracting you from your goals and those you care about most. Don’t think of aftercare as overstaying your welcome in recovery or not moving forward. Although alumni programs draw similarities to college and high school alumni programs in the most basic ways, the similarities end there. Despite valuable wisdom, you will hopefully be able to gift those just beginning their recovery journey, you are still their peers, Because, the truth is, your years as a student are limited. Still, you will always be a part of the recovery community.
Are You Looking for a Delaware Rehab Center That Offers Aftercare?
When looking for a rehab center in Delaware that offers aftercare, it’s essential to consider what to expect from this program and how you’ll benefit. These are some examples of what the right aftercare program will offer you:
- Positive influence to move forward through an alumni mentorship.
- Access to similar rehab programs offered in outpatient treatment, like behavioral therapy, 12-step programs, and medication-assisted treatment. You will participate with more freedom and less restriction as you navigate a more independent lifestyle.
- Access to relapse prevention techniques, education, and resources to help you in recovery.
- Continued engagement with your addiction to help keep you accountable and not neglect to maintain your sobriety.
- Greater access to sober social networks and opportunities that support rebuilding your sober lifestyle. This makes life more enjoyable and reduces the potential for engagement with people who might take you off your path.
- The opportunity to be tasked with helping others in recovery as an alumni mentor. The wisdom you gain each day can turn someone’s life around and be a gratifying experience.
At first, the prospect of maintaining your recovery on a consistent and ongoing basis can seem like an unnecessary slog. You may fear that continuing treatment means you’ll never let loose again or that you’ll be bored, secluded with the other individuals in recovery on a separate island, apart from the rest of society. This mindset often fades over time. Addiction will always be a part of you, but it doesn’t define you. You can and should continue the relationships with everyone you care about outside of the addiction community, but actively managing your condition can make that easier as well.
Find The Right Aftercare Program Today at Lotus Recovery Centers
After you’ve completed a rehab program, accountability plays a pivotal role in how your addiction plays out. Aftercare is a crucial aspect of maintaining your sobriety, which is too important to risk. Remember, you belong in treatment as much as someone at their “rock bottom” because addiction is a chronic, lifelong disease. Please contact Lotus Recovery Centers today at 833.922.1615 for more information about an aftercare treatment program that can work for you.
