The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that up to 60 percent of people who attend a treatment program and don’t receive aftercare treatment eventually resume drug or alcohol use. Although aftercare drug treatment is not a guarantee of lifelong sobriety or drug-free living, it provides significant benefits that increase the likelihood the person who completed treatment will continue to abstain.
What is Aftercare?
Aftercare treatment consists of care and services that a person continues to receive after having completed a formal treatment program. The best holistic treatment programs recognize the need for substance abuse aftercare to ensure that the newly sober individual has the resources he or she needs to continue on this new path in life. Individual counseling and group therapy are two common provisions of a high-quality aftercare alcohol and drug treatment program.
During individual therapy, the patient has the option to meet one-on-one with a therapist specially trained in substance abuse and recovery aftercare to discuss ongoing challenges in his or her life. It is especially important to bring underlying issues that may have contributed to the addiction out in the open to learn healthier coping skills.
Group therapy gives addicted people the chance to discuss challenges and successes in a safe aftercare drug treatment program with others who can understand. One of the biggest benefits of participating in group therapy in substance abuse aftercare is that members help to hold each other accountable for maintaining sobriety and meeting other life goals.
A weekly check-in with an addiction counselor and regular appointments with medical providers to help monitor the addicted person’s health progress are additional common components of an aftercare alcohol and drug treatment program. The goal is to become less dependent on staff at the treatment facility and become more self-sufficient in sobriety as time passes.
What Should an Aftercare Recovery Plan Look Like?
A quality substance abuse and recovery aftercare program focuses heavily on relapse prevention. The counselor and patient discuss what to include in this plan together. The counselor then creates a written aftercare drug treatment contract to ensure that the patient has guidelines in place before official discharge from the treatment program.
Some people who go through treatment for drug or alcohol addiction can benefit from moving to a halfway house rather than return to an unhealthy living environment that would likely lead to continued drug use. Although not a formal substance abuse aftercare program, a halfway house can provide critical structure and accountability for the first few months of sober living for the recovering addict.
An aftercare alcohol and drug treatment counselor may also recommend that someone just completing addiction treatment consider living in a sober house. This is less formal than a halfway house but still promotes accountability and clean living. The important thing for the recovering addict or alcoholic is to avoid living or socializing with people still actively addicted who are not yet ready to accept the need for help. Avoiding other stressful triggers is also essential for long-term recovery from addiction.
Look for a Treatment Program That Includes Aftercare
People who have decided to seek help for addiction should ensure that they choose a facility that offers substance abuse and recovery aftercare. They also shouldn’t be afraid to ask about the success rates of previous patients with treatment and aftercare drug treatment while the facility still maintains patient confidentiality. Lastly, it’s important to remember that the biggest factor for whether aftercare treatment will be effective is how much time and energy each person leaving drug or alcohol treatment is willing to put into it.
