For the individual seeking help with recovery from drugs and alcohol, it can seem that there is nowhere to turn. Many addicts and alcoholics have been told they need help, but how is that help obtained? Unfortunately, many people think it’s as simple as saying, “No.” Others look down on individuals suffering from this disease because they fail to recognize it as a disease.
For anyone who has ever dealt with addiction, becoming self aware can be the first step to moving forward. While denial usually accompanies any mention of an addiction, it is at this moment that if an addict admits they have a problem, that true progress and change can be made.
As addicts go through the process of recovering from substance abuse, one question that looms large is what will they do after treatment? While counseling and therapies provide a path for them to find success, it is efforts after treatment that will define success.
We believe it is important to provide clients with a comfortable home in which to reside while doing this important work. Environment plays a key role in the healing process. Many clients have not practiced self-care for a long time – many never learned how to do so to begin with. This reinforces negative beliefs about themselves and their inherent value. The 7th street program offers an environment that supports development of self-worth and the motivation in building a better life.
The incidence of substance use disorders among people with disabilities tends to be higher than it is for the general population. In particular persons served by the State-Federal Vocational Rehabilitation System. Such people pose a greater risk of substance abuse because of medication abuse, poverty, unemployment, and lack of education. They receive less academic education, as well as less precautionary tools to understand the risks of substance abuse and addiction.
Why is it then that the American Medical Association declared alcoholism a disease in 1956, and yet, in 2017, alcoholism and drug addictions are still considered by some to be something that weak-minded people succumb to?
The practice of mindfulness can be helpful and healthy for everyone, but it is especially relevant for people in addiction recovery. By facilitating conscious awareness with a nonjudgmental perspective, mindfulness can decrease the vicious circles of anxiety, fear, anger, sadness, depression, guilt, regret, and shame that make so many recovering people vulnerable to relapse. Because of the potential threat they pose to recovery, most people have extremely negative reactions to cravings and their natural impulse is to try to avoid or suppress them.
Addiction is a family disease, we have heard it over and over, but making sense of it can be tricky. Substance abuse recovery isn’t something done alone, as they say, “It takes a village to raise a kid”, the idea rings true when trying to make recovery a reality in a family dynamic. Addict’s best recover with the support of family, friends, and the recovery community around them when they finally reach treatment.
Living with an addict can be a living hell. Unpredictable and dangerous, yet sometimes exciting and romantic. Never knowing when we’ll be blamed or accused. Not being able to dependably plan social events. As the addict becomes more irresponsible, we pick up the slack and do more, often becoming the sole functioning parent or even the sole provider; yet we’re unable to lean on our partner for comfort or support.
Group therapy is a vital component in any comprehensive addiction treatment program. It offers clients the ability to access support and encouragement from the community surrounding them in a residential treatment facility. The natural sense humans have to congregate and to lean on people around them makes group therapy a very powerful tool in treating substance abuse.
