It is a great accomplishment to get through a 28-day drug rehab or alcohol rehab process. The addict or alcoholic who has been through treatment has their chances for long-term recovery grow exponentially. After you have been medically detoxed and gone through primary treatment, you feel better physically and mentally, but the journey doesn’t end there. It has just begun.
While you were in treatment you began to learn about yourself. You learned why you drink and use drugs. There are many topics that have been brought up from your past that caused you to drink in the first place. You will need to continue to work on yourself in these areas.
When you leave treatment, you will be given a plan as to what you need to do in order to stay sober. The aftercare plan you are given at Clearbrook is crafted specifically for you based on your needs. We will give you recommendations that will give some structure and order to your life. Follow this plan to the letter! By the end of treatment, most of us can admit that our way of thinking stinks and takes our life in a direction we no longer want to go. Your aftercare plan was designed by those who are educated and experienced in guiding people into early recovery. Let them do the thinking for now.
One of the staples of these recommendations is to join a twelve-step group, such as AA or NA. The rooms of the twelve-step fellowships are filled with people that have recovered from the disease of addiction. They know how you feel and they have already taken the steps necessary in their own lives to change from the way they used to live. We advise finding a sponsor in the rooms. A sponsor will help you and guide you through the twelve steps of recovery. A sponsor is someone you will see and hear in meetings that “has what you want”. What we mean by that is, if you want to be happy, joyous, and free, look for a sponsor who has those things in their life. When someone says something that is encouraging and hopeful to you, approach them. They are the type of person that can help you. We suggest reading the literature that the fellowships offer. Upon admission into Clearbrook, you will be given most of them. And most importantly…DO NOT USE ALCOHOL OR DRUGS!! That seems like a given but we always feel the need to say that.
If you feel tempted to pick up please call us here at Clearbrook. We are always here for our patients both past and present.
