After finding the courage to seek help for your addiction, there will come a proud day when you get to walk out of the front door of the rehab as a person free of addiction. As good as that freedom feels, there will also come a moment when you start to think, “what now?” It’s the answer you have for that question that is going to determine how successful you are at maintaining your recovery. If you are lucky, you will walk out that front door and never look back. You will stay in control of your life and never again resort to substance abuse to manage the issues in your life. However, a national relapse rate of between 40% and 60% makes clear that staying sober is a difficult thing to do. So, What happens after rehab? That’s a question you need to quickly answer for yourself.
However, your answer should have something to do with figuring out what steps you can take to protect yourself against the ravages of chronic relapses. Here’s a little secret. You most likely put in a lot of hard work to earn the right to leave rehab. The problem is all of that hard work you put in was simply the start of your recovery, something you will have to deal with for the rest of your life. The best chance you have at staying firmly on the road to recovery is to take advantage of available aftercare resources.
A top drug and alcohol addiction treatment center like ours will make sure you are loaded with information as you graduate from treatment. The information will cover all of the aftercare resources you will have at your disposal. With that information in hand, it will be up to you to decide which resources you will avail of when the time comes that you are starting to show signs of an impending relapse.
Available Aftercare Resources
While the availability of aftercare resources might vary because of where you live, there are a number of very good aftercare resources available in most areas. At the absolute least, you should be able to get ongoing outpatient counseling during the times when things start getting a little dicey. Otherwise, here are a few other aftercare options you might want to consider after you leave rehab:
- Participation in 12 Step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and Narcotics Anonymous (NA)
- Living in a sober living environment
- Participation in alumni programs and events offered by your rehab facility
As you can see, there are two key components to staying sober. First, you have to surround yourself with people who are willing to help you fight the good fight of avoiding relapses. Second, you need to work on your recovery every day. You can never forget that while you are living each day as a person in recovery, your addiction is in the background doing pushups. Why? The moment you let your guard down and forget that you are a person in recovery, your addiction will be ready to strike. While all of the aftercare options we have mentioned are something of which we approve, we want to spend a moment discussing sober living. If you walk out of rehab and still feel a little shaky about your recovery, living a month or two in a sober living home might be worth your consideration.
Sober living homes exist as a bridge between rehab and heading back home to responsibility and stress. In a sober living home, you would be surrounded by people who have goals that are similar to yours. You all want to stay strong and avoid relapses. Sober living teaches you two things. First, you are not alone. There are lots of people living in recovery. Second, sober living will help you reestablish some kind of structure in your life. That is something you likely lost as the ravages of substance abuse put your life in complete disarray. You can redevelop that structure in a sober living home before you return to your normal life. Before you worry about what happens after rehab, you need to be focusing on getting the help you need. That is something with which we can provide you. When you are sick and tired of living in the cycle of addiction, you need to call us at 844-844-3463. We’ll use your phone call as an opportunity to tell you about our treatment services while inviting you to come in for treatment.