Many people falsely believe that when a person has attended rehab, they are cured when they leave. The fact is that addiction is an illness that develops over time which can take even longer to truly recover from. This does not mean that people with addiction issues are doomed to a life dominated by substance abuse or that they have to tread carefully for the rest of their lives in case they encounter a situation that might lead to relapse.
Because society has a much more developed understanding of addiction issues than in the past, it is now commonly known to be an illness that is treatable for a fulfilling life in sobriety. However, each individual has to travel their own path to recovery and for many, that involves residential treatment in a rehab center. Once an individual has completed a treatment program, they almost always need extra support in the early weeks, months and even years at home after rehab, which they have access to through outpatient treatment programs.
There are different options available for aftercare treatment including:
Outpatient Drug Treatment Programs
The majority of aftercare programs are delivered on an outpatient substance abuse treatment program so that the patient can remain at home. This is particularly valuable therapeutic support for people leaving rehab, particularly for complex substance addictions and dual diagnosis patients suffering a concurrent mental illness.
Individuals have wildly varying treatment and therapy needs in rehab and although a program will prepare them for returning home when it’s completed, they are very likely to need extra support through the transition.
Outpatient treatment programs are designed to meet the very specific needs of individual patients while allowing them to reintroduce themselves back into their home, work and social lives. Many patients leaving rehab are anxious about how they will be received by others when they return home, particularly if relationships have been damaged by addiction issues.
Outpatient substance abuse treatment programs ensure a smooth transition from rehab to recovery by providing proactive support, including family therapy, so that recovering addicts get real-time support. There are significant benefits of outpatient aftercare including:
- Individuals can remain at home and receive full support while they rebuild their lives
Aftercare provided by the same rehab center people lived in during treatment ensures a continuum of care where the individual’s specific therapeutic needs are met
- Alcohol outpatient treatment programs often offer recovering addicts a wider range of services than rehab centers do, all of which are delivered at a local level
- Recovering addicts feel empowered to make better progress in sobriety when they know they have full and immediate support should they face stressors or triggers to abuse substances
Sober Living Homes
When some addicts have completed a treatment program, they may not have an ideal home environment to return to. Close friends and even family members can serve to enable addiction, even without knowing they are doing so and relationship issues can remain fraught even after rehab. If a rehab patient is in this situation, they may be recommended to attend an alcohol outpatient treatment program while living in a sober living home.
A sober living home is a substance-free environment where recovering addicts live together. They attend therapy and treatment sessions as required, while remaining resident in a controlled environment. This ensures their recovery progress is not impeded by the negative presence of others while living in an environment shared by others on similar journeys.
Sober living homes vary from rehab centers in that patients are free to come and go as they please. The idea is to return responsibility to individuals after they’ve completing residential treatment so that they learn to be accountable for their actions once again. There are certain rules residents in sober living homes are expected to follow including the condition that they remain drug or alcohol-free although all residents receive full support with regular outpatient therapy sessions throughout the week.
Outpatient Aftercare Offers a Continuum of Care for Effective Recovery
The majority of good rehab centers today carry out a thorough evaluation of all patients passing through their doors. This is to ensure that a personalized treatment plan is devised that adequately addresses their specific needs. This level of personalization of therapies doesn’t end when the program has finished and is continued in an alcohol outpatient treatment program.
This ensures that more complex cases of addiction such as dual diagnosis patients who are suffering from another mental illness as well as abusing substances are not overlooked. With all types of substance use disorder, there are numerous factors at play when a person has developed an addiction which often needs to be consistently addressed through many years in recovery.
Outpatient treatment provides an effective and importantly proactive approach to supporting recovery, which means complex cases should have their needs met without individuals facing crisis situations alone. When people have been struggling with addiction, they are very likely to have become isolated from everyone around them. A good outpatient aftercare program assimilates people back into their home environments with confidence that they are fully supported by the therapeutic community offered by outpatient treatment.