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5 Important Reasons to Continue Therapy After Rehab

Jun 15, 2021

For recovery to last, it needs to be sustainable by design. That means the way someone learns to stay sober can be maintained over time through a specific process or actions. One significant part of that design to support a sober life begins after detox or after someone completes a residential program. Today, let’s talk about the value in continuing individualized therapy and group therapy after drug or alcohol treatment.

Aftercare beyond residential drug and alcohol treatment is an important step in sustaining recovery work. An outpatient program can provide continued treatment for substance use as well as mental health disorders. Some reasons to begin individual therapy after rehab include receiving help in managing stress, preparing for a return to enabling places, and keeping a connection with people who understand how addiction works. Sober living homes can be a safe place to work on recovery goals in a community of like-minded people while you’re attending individual therapy sessions regularly. 

Why Therapy is Key to Recovery

Two kinds of therapy can be beneficial after a rehab program ends. One kind is individual therapy. In these sessions, you’re getting the same one-on-one support you received in a residential program. Sessions can be set up for you to learn strategies for coping with cravings and transitioning back to your independent life. In between sessions, you have time to practice these coping strategies and update a therapist on what worked and what needs more attention. The help can be specific to you as a person. Patients with mental health disorders, such as depression or anxiety, affecting their substance use benefit from individual therapy focused on those unique needs.

Group therapy is another key element to recovery. In these sessions, you get acquainted with people who are also aiming to stay sober. These are people who can offer support, share what works for them, and help you stay accountable for your substance use choices outside of group therapy. This kind of peer support can be ongoing and extend beyond actual therapy meetings. Some of the connections created in this way may continue as you mutually benefit each other with supportive, caring interaction.

Top 5 Reasons to Continue Therapy after Rehab

  1. Managing your stress remains important.

Stress can be a factor in relapsing. Learning to manage stress from work, bills, relationships, and other sources is essential to avoiding this risk to your recovery. You may need new strategies for coping with stress now that rehab is over and you’re living independently again.

  1. A return to enabling places may be inevitable.

As you return to home and work life after rehab, you may visit or pass by places where using drugs and alcohol was routine. Home certainly can be an enabling place. Therapy after rehab can help guide you to look at how to avoid some enabling places and how to minimize what makes them enabling.

  1. Your primary social network most likely hasn’t changed.

The people you see most often after rehab could be the same people you spent time with before starting treatment. These may be friends, family, and coworkers who shared time using drugs or alcohol with you. While you’ve started recovery, they may have continued with their substance use. Having the support of an ongoing therapy resource can be helpful in protecting your sobriety while encountering these kinds of people in your life.

  1. Access to people who understand addiction is essential.

For many people, the end of rehab is the end of a daily connection to sobriety support and understanding. The treatment environment provided those things through both counselors and fellow patients. Without caring and understanding people around you, feeling isolated and misunderstood can contribute to relapsing.

  1. Cravings will return.

The end of rehab isn’t the end of a substance use disorder. It becomes a point of stepping off to sustaining sobriety in new ways as cravings for a drug or alcohol will return. These can be powerful. Therapy sessions can be used to teach you new strategies to cope with cravings by creating behaviors to replace the drinking or drug use of your past.

Options for Complete Outpatient Programs

Programs for outpatient treatment come in a variety of forms. Some residential programs may include planning for a patient’s aftercare. The goal is to ensure a continuity of care once a residential program ends with no gaps in treatment. These treatment centers offer space in an alumni program.

Sober living is another option for post-residential treatment. In a sober living environment, you share space with other people of the same gender who are working on their recovery. This living arrangement can be used to supplement other sobriety efforts, including outpatient treatment off-site.

Outpatient programs offering both individual and group therapy are available for men and women of any age to continue working on their sober living goals. Intensive outpatient meets more frequently to provide more support and care for people whose substance use disorder is more severe. Outpatient programs are ideal for individuals who want to integrate regular treatment into their weekly routine of work and family life.

 

Origins Counseling in Dallas, Texas, made available by a well-known care provider offering a range of treatment programs targeting the recovery from substance use, mental health issues, and beyond. Our primary mission is to provide a clear path to a life of healing and restoration. We offer renowned clinical care for addiction and have the compassion and professional expertise to guide you toward lasting sobriety. For information on our programs, call us today: 844.321.2944.

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