Congratulations, you are about to complete your treatment program! You are so excited to go back in the world with your new life. You have been looking forward to this moment for so long. You might be a little nervous, which is a good thing. But if you do this correctly and thoroughly you will be setting yourself up for success. Your aftercare plan is very important for living a healthy, happy, and sober life post treatment. You want to make sure that you are taking this very seriously. As the odds are not in our favor for staying sober post treatment, you definitely do not want to be a statistic. So with all that you have learned during your stay in treatment you are going to want to incorporate those skills when doing your aftercare planning.. 

How to properly plan your after

When planning your aftercare it is important to start with the important matter first those are going to include.

• Finding a therapist- Finding a therapist is the most essential part of your aftercare plan, you want to make sure that you can still have a professional that you can talk to and that knows how to help you. A lot of things are going to come up for you as you transition into your new life. 
• Living situation- Now that your living situation is about to change, it is imperative that you know what you are going home to. If you are going back to the place you came from before treatment, make sure that you take another sober person with you in case there is anything left from before you left for treatment. Your living situation should be ideal for your sobriety. You want to avoid living with anyone who drinks or uses. Getting a roommate who has at least one year sober is also ideal and highly recommended.
• 12 step program- Getting into a 12 step program is highly recommended. Studies show that those who do work some type of program have a dramatically higher chance of staying sober. 12 step programs can include A.A, N.A,C.A and CMA as well as sex and love meetings. We recommend that you go to a meeting at least everyday the first 90 days you are out of treatment. This will also allow you to expand your sober friends circle.
• Sponsor- If you have not found a sponsor during your stay in treatment it is imperative that you find one before going out on your own. A sponsor is someone who has gone through the 12 steps and has a significant amount of time sober. They are responsible for taking you through the 12 steps and giving you good advice. You should find a sponsor that you relate to in some type of way as this will help you to be more open with them. You can find a sponsor at a 12 step program meeting, or just ask another sober member if they have anyone who may be able to sponsor you.

Inner circle- It is important that your inner circle be good influences on you. As they say you are who you hang out with. You definitely are going to want to have sober friends around you. Again a 12 step meeting is a great place to meet other people your age. Doing this alone is scary, having friends to lean on for support is extremely important.

We hope you were able to get some ideas from this, We urge you to really take this seriously. Remember you do not want to have to go back to treatment. Living a healthy life on your own is so much better. Remember if you are struggling, always reach out to someone.