How To Help Yourself Reach The Goal Of An Intensive Outpatient Addiction Program

An intensive outpatient addiction program has the goal of helping you deal with situations that once drove you to use whatever substances you became addicted to, without actually resorting to those substances and relapsing. The intensive part of the name is not a joke; you'll find yourself having to attend a lot of counseling sessions each week. Don't let that work go to waste; help yourself reach that goal as well.

Get as Much of a Support Network in Place as Possible

The intensive outpatient program is just one facet of your recovery process, albeit a big one. Still, you need to get as many aspects of your life in line with your goal of recovery as quickly as you can. Find relatives and friends who want you to recover and stay in contact with them (if not actually staying with them). If you have no one supportive around you, you're not alone. The outpatient program may be able to put you in touch with additional support groups and networks.

Consider Sober-Living Homes

You can't spend your non-therapy time in environments that are conducive to relapsing. If your home life does not support recovery, look at sober-living homes. While these sound like they are for alcohol recovery, they can be for recovery from any type of substance abuse. These homes usually require that their residents attend therapy, and your outpatient program may count. You can ask the outpatient counselors if they can recommend sober-living homes in the area.

The Saying Is True: Take It One Day at a Time

When someone tells you to take it one day at a time, that can sound so trite at first. But it is true. If you leap ahead mentally and try to rush to the goal of recovery too quickly, you could relapse quickly. Go day by day and don't think bad days mean your attempts to recover are failing. You don't take a sailboat out on a day with fairly gentle winds and rant about how you're not getting any closer to your destination, right? You just realize it may be slow going and focus on steering. It's the same with recovery. You can't rant about bad days or how long it's taking. Do one day. If you did something that day that you didn't like, try not to repeat it the next day, and so on.

Intensive outpatient addiction programs are constructed to give you the tools to avoid relapsing and to process your emotional state so that you get better at handling whatever life throws at you. If you can find ways to support your recovery in addition to the program, you could see more solid progress. Reach out to an intensive outpatient program to learn more.