What to expect at the end of your drug recovery program

When it comes to trying to overcome drug addiction and leading a healthy and sober life, there are a lot of different stages of your recovery. 

Do not be mistaken, full recovery from addiction can take a long time and the recovery process lasts long after you undergo a 30-day (or longer) inpatient treatment program. 

If you are considering entering an inpatient recovery program, or have someone that you love in your life that you are trying to convince to get help, here are some of the important things that you should know about the stages of any recovery program, reach out to The Forge Recovery Center to see more.

Here are the steps of your treatment, and what you can expect at the end of your drug recovery program.

Step 1 – Initiation to the treatment

The first step of anyone’s experience at a drug treatment center is to be initiated in the treatment program itself. Sometimes, the hardest part of this step is for the staff at the treatment center to really convince the patient to take part and accept their treatment. Some of the top goals of this step are to:

• Have the patient recognize and grapple with the damaging impact of addiction
• Explore any feelings of denial or reasons for resistance regarding the addiction
• Instill the patient with a real motivation to recover

Step 2 – Early abstinence

After the first step has been gone through successfully, the second stage of drug treatment will begin for the addicted patient. This early abstinence stage will include detox and positive treatment outcomes. Sometimes, this proves to be the most difficult stage for the patient him or herself because of the following reasons:

• Continuation of serious withdrawal symptoms
• Physical cravings for the substance
• Psychological dependence and pain from the detox
• Dealing with triggers that can temp the patience to relapse

Every stage of recovery is difficult, but this may be the most difficult one. It is when the addiction is actively fighting to continue on and return. Relapse is perhaps most likely during this stage. 

Step 3 – Maintaining sobriety and long-term recovery

As your stay at your treatment center continues, you will start to both, work on yourself as a person now and look towards the future to help make sure that you are giving yourself the best chance possible to enjoy a successful and sober life going forward. Some of the top things that will be covered in this final stage include:

• Encouraging the patient to take part in healthy activities
• Finding alternative behaviors to engage as opposed to drug use
• Getting involved with valuable self-help groups
• Recognizing triggers that the patient will have to avoid
• Creating long-term goals for the patient
• Establishing social relationships that help the patient maintain their sobriety
• Learning useful employment and money management skills
• Manage negative emotions and anger
• Utilizing the positives of exercise and nutrition

From here, recovering addicts will have to put the tools that they have learned together to improve their chances of success in the next stage of their recovery!