Relapse Prevention in Cedar Park, TX
The key to staying clean and sober after rehab is learning a strong strategy for relapse prevention in Cedar Park. Relapse prevention programs are intended to teach recovering people new skills and resources for avoiding temptation to return to former self-destructive behaviors.
Each person's programs for relapse prevention are unique to them. Just as the reasons behind each person's addiction are different, so too are the strategies and resources needed to make a full recovery.
What is Relapse Prevention?
Relapse prevention in Cedar Park is about learning healthy new ways to deal with life's stresses and situations without resorting to self-destructive drug or alcohol abuse.
During rehab, each person begins to develop their own plan for relapse prevention in Cedar Park. Counseling and behavioral therapy sessions help each person identify their unique addiction triggers and high-risk situations for substance abuse.
Addiction specialists in drug treatment centers also encourage recovering people to attend a range of alternative therapies. Not everyone responds to therapies in the same way, so it's a good idea for a recovering person to try several to gauge the effectiveness for their own needs.
Why Are Relapse Prevention Tools Necessary?
Relapse prevention programs are an integral aspect of the addiction recovery process. It's common for many people to assume that breaking free from drug or alcohol addiction simply needs a bit of willpower to stop using. From there, the assumption is that the person will endure a few uncomfortable days during drug detox in Cedar Park, after which they should somehow be cured.
In reality, detox only rids the body of the drug's effects. Detox on its own does nothing to address the psychological triggers behind self-destructive behaviors associated with addictive substance use.
Relapse prevention programs are designed to provide the tools, resources, and skills needed for recovering people to maintain sobriety using healthy coping skills and mechanisms.
How Do Relapse Prevention Programs Work?
Programs for relapse prevention are comprised of several factors to suit each individual person's needs. Some common factors may include:
- Learning warning signs: Relapse is never an isolated incident. Rather, there are several stages leading up to the actual act of relapsing. During rehab, recovering people are taught to identify their own unique relapse warning signs.
- Recognizing symptoms: Understanding what the relapse warning signs are is a good start, but recognizing those symptoms when they occur is a different matter. A recovering person needs to recognize when they are experiencing symptoms of early relapse in order to put strong measures into place to prevent it happening.
- Create a plan: Each person's relapse prevention plan will be unique to them and will include factors that provide positive results for their individual needs. For most people, a relapse prevention plan may begin with disassociating from bad influences and avoiding high risk situations for relapse.
- Practice self-care: Most recovering addicts may struggle with malnutrition, poor self-esteem and low self-image, which often contributed to self-destructive and dysfunctional behaviors in the first place. Practicing self-care can improve physical health and boost feelings of self-worth, both of which can reduce the risk of relapse.
- Attending meetings: Most people assume they only need to attend group meetings while they're in rehab. However, ongoing attendance at group support meetings can help maintain motivation to stay sober.
Relapse Prevention Aftercare Services
Learning new strategies for relapse prevention in Cedar Park while still in rehab is a great start. However, once the recovering person leaves rehab to return to independent living it can be challenging to put newly-learned strategies into practice.
It many cases, people leave drug rehab centers to return to people and places associated with past substance abuse. The result can mean returning into high-risk situations with constant temptation to return to former self-destructive habits.
By comparison, our treatment programs in Cedar Park for relapse prevention can provide access to sober-living homes and halfway houses that provide a drug- and alcohol-free environment to continue the recovery process.
Aftercare programs for relapse prevention also include providing access to ongoing therapy and counseling sessions. Recovering people are also strongly encouraged to continue attending group support meetings that help maintain motivation and reduce feelings of isolation.
Group meetings can include 12-step meetings such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or Narcotics Anonymous (NA). Some people may also want to incorporate other types of group support meetings into their recovery plan. Groups such as SMART Recovery provide a range of tools and resources designed to promote self-empowerment and self-directed change.
SMART Recovery also offers recovering people access to online forums that can provide additional levels of support at times when physical 12-step meetings aren't available. Call us now at (877) 804-1531.