Successful recovery goes well beyond achieving our main goal of sobriety. Lasting recovery takes the initial success of sobriety and builds upon it with structure and accountability. At treatment facilities like Athens Area Commencement Center, you’ll receive support to not only get well but also stay well over the long term. Having the structure and accountability of aftercare groups can mean the difference between long term sobriety and continuous cycles of relapse.
Aftercare Groups: Preventing Relapse
Relapsing after achieving sobriety is so common that it is often considered a normally occurring part of the addiction journey. Research has shown that the majority of substance-dependent individuals who successfully achieved abstinence went on to relapse within a year. Cycles of relapse can sometimes be attributed to difficult life circumstances, such as losing a job or ending a relationship. For many of us, there are biological factors that contribute to our chances of relapse, including symptoms of depression and stress.
Once we’ve achieved sobriety, how do we prevent relapse? The answer for many of us is to commit to an aftercare group. Staying sober is something we might not be able to do all on our own. Given the weight and complexity of the recovery journey, having the support of an aftercare group can be the solution that helps us stay sober. The work we do in our aftercare program can help us build upon all the lessons we learned in treatment and successfully prevent relapse.
Aftercare Groups: Navigating Life After Treatment
After finishing treatment, many of us are left to rejoin the community and continue our lives with little clarity as to how to move forward. How do I navigate seeing my family members again? Will I be triggered by things in my home environment that might make me want to use again? How can I offset the anxiety and depression that can lead to relapse? We need structure to help us navigate all these very normal, common challenges. The structure and stability of aftercare programs can help us stay sober long-term.
Aftercare groups offer ongoing support post-treatment, guided by professionals with expertise in addiction recovery. In the aftercare groups at Athens Area Commencement Center, we build upon all the education, coping skills, and life skills you acquired in treatment. One example of such coping skills is managing triggers in healthy ways as they arise rather than allowing them to sabotage our sobriety.
Aftercare programs build upon that education by reinforcing the important life skills you’ll need when rejoining the community and restarting your regular life after a treatment program.
Structure and Stability of Aftercare Groups
Navigating life after treatment comes with challenges beyond staying sober. The chaos of addiction brings with it significant instability in our work lives, our studies, our finances, the management of our homes, and beyond. It’s very hard to find structure and stability in our lives when they’ve been upended by addiction. Going back to school, finding the right job, and making a career move are all considerations we might undertake after finishing treatment.
Aftercare groups provide educational and vocational support. They also help you find ways to be more involved in your community. Creating a well-rounded, healthy, stable life for ourselves is about more than getting sober. It is also of the utmost importance to create stability and structure in our lives. Finding balance and stability is paramount to our mental and emotional well-being, as well as to our chances of staying sober.
Aftercare Groups: Time Commitment
Another major benefit of an aftercare group like the one at Athens Area Commencement Center is the built-in time commitment of two years. In an aftercare program, you’ll be in a supportive group setting intended to help you sustain your sobriety over time. This two-year time requirement offers the structure needed to stay focused on our recovery work for a significant period of time. It allows us to benefit from more time with the support of our community. Knowing we’re committing to two years of continuous work can help us stay committed to our recovery long-term.
Aftercare Groups: Accountability
Staying sober long-term is one of the hardest things we’ll ever do. Many of us believe we’re not meant to do it alone. Along with the support we receive in our aftercare group, we’re also given the tremendous gift of accountability. Making connections with people and forming mutually caring relationships with them helps us hold ourselves accountable to our recovery goals.
When we’re struggling with addiction, we often feel isolated, scared, overwhelmed, and totally alone in our fight. We might not feel capable of getting sober when we’re trying to do it on our own. As we know, addiction is an illness, not a choice. Willpower, therefore, only gets us so far. Many of us need the accountability that comes with sharing our recovery journey with other people. Holding ourselves accountable to other people can be more effective than trying to recover alone.
Aftercare Groups: Responsibility
With an aftercare group full of people who care about each other, we have people we want to stay accountable to. We want to be able to see them at our next meeting and tell them, “I’m still sober!” Many of us feel a responsibility to do the best thing for our well-being, not only for ourselves but also for other people.
This feeling of responsibility in aftercare groups can come from not wanting to let others down or disappoint them. Our sense of responsibility can also come from a strong desire to help fellow members stay sober. We know that with every day we stay committed to our recovery, we help the people we care about do the same.
You’ve successfully completed your treatment program – congratulations! You might be asking yourself, “Now what?” Upon finishing treatment, many people will join aftercare groups. Aftercare groups help you take everything you learned during treatment and implement it in your everyday life. They build upon all the lessons and coping skills you’ve gained. In aftercare, you’ll continue to do the work with the added stability and structure of a supportive group. Together, we’ll learn ways to prevent relapse. You’ll find resources to navigate daily life and stay committed to your sobriety. You’ll develop caring relationships that help you stay accountable to your goals. Call Athens Area Commencement Center at (706) 546-7355 today for more information on our aftercare programs.