So you’ve finished your initial inpatient substance abuse treatment program. Now what? For many, this is just the beginning of a lifelong journey of recovery. You don’t just arrive and remain when it comes to your sobriety. You need to always work at it from here on out. That’s why it’s important to continue utilizing the recovery resources available to you—such as outpatient therapy and an aftercare program—to keep your long-term sobriety goals intact and to prevent relapse.
Drug Addiction Treatment and Relapse Prevention: Back in the Real World
Within the confines of an inpatient addiction treatment program, everything is intentionally planned out to protect you from addiction and keep you focused on your sobriety. This is a good thing, because when you’re in the throes of addiction, you often need heavy structure and 24/7 care to heal at first. But you can’t stay at the treatment center forever (nor would you want to). Once you’ve finished your inpatient treatment, it’s time to start gradually entering back into the real world.
While you may continue on with step-down levels of care alongside your treatment team to help you adjust, eventually, you are back on your own. That is the goal of treatment after all, to return you to normal, independent life without your addiction pulling the strings. It is here, however, that addiction is often waiting to take back control. And unless you’re prepared, you could relapse.
When you relapse, you consciously stop your recovery practices and make your addiction a priority again. This discouraging situation actually happens more often than you’d think. About 40 to 60% of people in addiction recovery will go on to relapse at some point in their lives. This is often due to a combination of many challenges in recovery: continued withdrawal symptoms (such as substance cravings), addiction triggers, and dealing with a home environment that may encourage substance use. Without the right support in place, it gets easy to go back to drugs or alcohol when these challenges arise.
Though you want to stay sober and keep relapse prevention on the forefront of your mind, there are specific instances that can leave you vulnerable to relapse. Isolating yourself from others, avoiding self-care practices, and being overly confident about your sobriety are just a few examples. That’s why you need to seek additional recovery support along the way to stay the course. And thankfully, you have a number of good options.
Ongoing Therapy: Why Outpatient Addiction Treatment Matters
When you finish your inpatient addiction treatment, many treatment programs will transition you into partial hospitalization programming or intensive outpatient care as the next step. These outpatient forms of continued therapy can help strengthen your recovery and aid in relapse prevention.
Partial Hospitalization Programming (PHP)
Though you’re ready to transition out of inpatient treatment, it’s helpful to still have one foot in structured, intensive programming and one foot in the real world, so to speak. This is where partial hospitalization programming (PHP) comes in. The best addiction treatment centers in the US offer PHP as an ongoing therapy option, and it’s a program we feature here at Defining Wellness Centers.
In PHP, you step out of the controlled environment that is inpatient addiction treatment, yet you still have vital stability and structure in place as you pursue your recovery goals. You may transition back to your individual home (especially if you’re local). Or, you may decide to temporarily reside in a sober living home, which gives you access to a supportive community that can hold you accountable as you abstain from substances.
Your primary focus remains on your recovery, participating in therapy programming for multiple hours each day, often five days per week. As a time-intensive commitment, you work directly with your treatment team (which may be the same team that supported you during inpatient care) to create specific recovery goals for this stage of therapy. These goals are often outlined with specific objectives to track your progress. You participate in both individual and group therapy sessions, as well as family therapy sessions to help create a support network for you at home.
Partial hospitalization programming provides more flexibility than inpatient treatment, and also lowers the cost of addiction treatment compared to inpatient. It also gives you a smoother transition back into regular life than you would have otherwise thanks to the continuity of care you receive from your therapy team. As a result, you not only continue to get the individualized treatment you need, but you also have access to a vital support system—all key tools for relapse prevention.
Intensive Outpatient Programming (IOP)
An intensive outpatient program (IOP) is the next phase of ongoing outpatient therapy after PHP. However, you may start here depending on your level of addiction. An IOP provides even more flexibility as a therapy program than PHP, helping you transition further into your personal life at home. At Defining Wellness Centers for example, our IOP consists of 10 hours of programming each week (usually divided up over 3 days) for 10 weeks. This allows you to keep up with your personal or work responsibilities without significant disruption.
With more freedom brings new recovery challenges, so you continue to receive individualized care in IOP. Each week of IOP typically consists of group therapy, as well as individualized therapy sessions—often with the same therapist you’ve been working with previously if you participated in inpatient and PHP treatment.
It is in IOP that you’re equipped to deal with addiction triggers and other challenges in a positive, healthy way, giving you relapse prevention strategies to maintain your sobriety. The first year especially is when relapse can easily strike, so IOP programming can be vital to preventing setbacks. Like PHP, IOP still provides a structured schedule, as well as a helpful support system.
Yet IOP also provides a safe space for you to practice some of the recovery skills and tools in the real world that you learned in treatment. And as you practice, you can process your experiences with others in therapy, helping you build a long-term sober foundation. You may also participate in therapies that provide holistic benefits to your overall well-being—the kinds you can utilize on your own in the real world—such as art therapy, yoga for recovery, mindfulness practices, meditation for recovery, and more.
How an Aftercare Program Helps With Relapse Prevention and Long-Term Recovery
When you’ve successfully completed inpatient addiction treatment and outpatient addiction treatment, your recovery journey is still ongoing. While you’re back in the real world pursuing an addiction-free life, the temptations toward substance abuse are still out there. It is in times like these that following an aftercare plan can keep you focused on your goals as the years go by. That’s why an aftercare program is so beneficial to relapse prevention and long-term sobriety.
At Defining Wellness Centers, the purpose of our aftercare program is to ensure that you have ongoing recovery support available to you when you need it most. This starts by working with you to create an aftercare plan based on your unique situation, needs, and goals. We think of this aftercare plan as a long-term road map for you to follow throughout your recovery journey. A typical aftercare plan may include:
- A defined relapse prevention plan to follow, identifying your addiction triggers, as well as healthy coping strategies and self-care habits you want to establish
- Support group options or 12-step programs to pursue so you can get continued support from your peers in recovery, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)
- A list of healthy stress management techniques that allow you to maintain successful emotional wellness without substances
- Ongoing therapeutic recommendations to visit an individual counselor or therapist
- A crisis management plan to utilize if you begin to notice any relapse warning signs
An aftercare program will also offer additional alumni support options, too. This goes beyond just the aftercare plan itself, but actually providing some of the steps within the plan. Various treatment facilities may incorporate ongoing therapy sessions for alumni, accountability and mentorship, life skills development, and support groups into their aftercare programming.
By participating in an aftercare program, you get the four essentials to relapse prevention: support for your mind, body, spirit, and social needs. When these essentials—which equate to your overall well-being—are cared for well, you’re less likely to relapse in the real world. And even better, you’re more equipped to stick with your sobriety goals and stay healthy long-term.
Stay the Course With Defining Wellness Centers
Though your recovery is a lifelong process, you can stay the course in your sobriety post-treatment with the right resources, support, and relapse prevention strategies. At Defining Wellness Centers in Mississippi, we provide a full continuum of care when it comes to drug and alcohol addiction treatment. From inpatient treatment to PHP, IOP, and aftercare programming, we can help you finally overcome addiction and keep relapse at bay in your new, reclaimed life. To learn more about our ongoing recovery care, contact our team today.
