Recovery doesn’t end after your 30 day rehab. It’s only the beginning. Begin your new life with these 15 things after you’re finished with rehab.
Almost 62% of those that attend a rehabilitation program of any kind will face a remission issue.
Within that number 43% reportedly had no post-rehab assistance plan. Those that did have a post plan and failed was only 20%.
Clearly, the sustained recovery route includes a plan to capitalize on the processes and habits started within the short 30-day rehab stay.
To capitalize on the success of others, follow their path and learn the 15 things that make for a successful recovery.
Life After 30-Day Rehab
With recidivism being such a problem with the rehabilitation process, knowing what to do after to strengthen the techniques learned becomes key. The following list offers no-nonsense recommendations from years of successful people who avoided falling back into habits and lived healthier lives.
Theis list has no specific order and following each isn’t as important as following most.
1. Follow a Treatment Plan
The most important step (of which the rest of these elaborate in a layman’s way) to follow after a 30-day rehab stay is the follow-up plan.
Depending on the facility, entire staff will be dedicated just to compiling and issuing a treatment plan. These plans can include contacts from the facility or local support staff. They will often contain names of healthcare professions in the patient’s area, support groups, and emergency services.
Because recidivism is such an issue following a 30-day rehab program, those showing a dedication to follow-up treatments get offered a lot of resources.
Unfortunately, those who seem to be more than keen to get out the door don’t receive as much help. But as has been learned throughout years of offering treatment, those that don’t want help won’t do well having it forced on them.
2. Collect Sober Associates
Sometimes out with the old and in with the new makes the best break with a past life. Changing up and making new sober friends works in this way. Anyone that caused problems or provided more negativity to your life than positivity should be removed.
Likely this removal will be permanent, but we’ll cover when that guideline changes up later.
The idea behind this item is to make a life not burdened by the temptations that former friends, especially users and abusers represent. Staying sober and keeping ahead of the statistics in falling back after a 30-day rehab stay involves a lot of direct and permanent changes.
This one can be easier than most, surprisingly, as meeting new people has bonuses that help keep you going with many other of these list items.
3. Find a Support Group
Much like when you sought to find rehab centers at the outset of your recover, finding support groups takes some initiative and dedication.
Support groups offer an interesting juxtaposition of help. The people involved have suffered and help with the same problems. This gives them as much perspective on what to do as what not to do.
Support groups help you to create a network of workable contacts that help with many of the other list items. Most importantly, support groups are full of people who have been there so they can see the signs of recidivism cropping up.
4. Exercise
Body chemistry alters. This is one of the truisms that creates problems for addicts and also helps change after.
Exercise after a 30-day rehab program can be the hardest activity to maintain but does wonders for resculpting the desires and the brain chemistry.
Exercise also takes time and energy and dedication to engage in. These are all the types of things you need to learn to balance after a rehab program.
A strong body can keep the worse issues of less-than-strong mind from doing the kind of damage they tend to do.
5. Volunteer
Giving back to a community or others helps solidify healing. This process helps because the individual sees their contributions and also gets some reflection on others.
Seeing how others live and how they struggle can provide wonderful perspective on how your own recovery matters in the grand scheme of things.
Reaching outside of yourself and having a personal commitment to help an individual or group also provides accountability.
6. Set a Schedule
Speaking of accountability, setting and keeping a schedule helps you to prioritize and organize. After weeks of pre-scheduled time at a 30-day rehab center, setting a schedule yourself also gives some validating autonomy.
Scheduling activities and mundane maintenance give you something to accomplish. Each task in a day done on purpose, rather than by happenstance, offers validation and confidence. Even if a scheduled item is ‘free time’ knowing that it exists and honoring that commitment to the self can be challenging and rewarding.
7. Watch for Signs of Relapse
Relapsing represents a fail state for recovery. The problem isn’t that failure happens, it is that the gradual breakdown that leads to it undermines everything that you’ve been through. The vicious cycle of abuse and recovery exists because recovery makes failure seem both inevitable and harsh.
Avoiding these feelings is as important as avoiding failure. The best way to prevent the kind of spiral that leads to undoing everything worked for is to be aware of when it seems like things are slipping.
Staying mentally aware of how you are doing, why you feel as you do, and what steps to take to avoid leaning into the problems are what you have been learning all along.
8. Focus on Staying Mental Healthy
To this end, being aware of your mental health and knowing how to build up your mental health becomes an obvious item.
Dealing with depression, disappointments, and desires all fall into the same category here. Each of these led to a behavior or habit that ultimately leads to relapse and pain. Avoiding these issues can be taxing and stressful.
The key, easy to state, but hard to follow, is to learn to cope with the underlying b trigger without resorting to negative consequences.
Items on this list, and especially support groups and support staff exist to help you understand that these are not isolated issues.
9. Re-evaluate the Living Situation
After leaving a 30-day rehab program you might find that you feel different but then the normal patterns of your life put you right back where you were.
Changing your living situation after treatment has a significant impact on letting you think and live your new life and not fall back into previous patterns.
Transitionary living comes highly recommended during this post-rehab period. It gives a patient a cheaper living alternative, provides accountability and also provides nearby support.
This can really help to solidify new habits before ‘going it alone’ with a new residence or living area.
10. Be Wary of Rehab Bonds
Staying in touch with those you met in a 30-day rehab center may seem like a good idea. After all, they are going through a lot of what you are and you have a shared history.
The problem is that the bond that forms among those that go through rehab has been shown to psychologically resemble the bond of those in a foxhole together. They tend to overemphasize protection and insular thinking, which can drag down individual recovery.
Some also feel a need to relapse simply so they can get back to those they feel safe with. These behaviors don’t reflect healthy thinking.
11. Don’t Over Do It
With all of this rigor and everything being new, some patients can spiral simply to not have to feel in control.
Be careful to stay busy but not get so wrapped up in working a program that you stop living your own life, you will grow to resent the program and can become obstinate.
12. Meet Follow-up Obligations
Being accountable to the things you set for yourself and the restrictions placed upon you by others help provide needed structure and a stronger sense of self.
The fastest route to relapse for many is avoiding obligations and hiding from their responsibilities. People feel like they have disappointed others and try to avoid being redressed for actions. Avoid these feelings by staying on top of what you commit to.
The unspoken rule here is to also only create obligations you can keep. As above, don’t stretch yourself so thin that you can’t help to keep on top of it all.
13. Be a Mentor
This item helps with both of the previous items. Coming out of a 30-day rehab program can leave you feeling vulnerable and overwhelmed. Taking on a mentee helps to provide you with a valuable volunteer experience.
It also helps you understand how restrictions and responsibilities work. Working with a mentee gives you a chance to see how advice you are receiving can be filtered. Knowing why you would tell someone else a piece of advice helps you to take that same type of advice in stride an.
We are also less likely to force on another something we wouldn’t want to do ourselves, so you can see where your limits should be.
14. Seek Help When Struggling
Don’t be afraid to tell others when you struggle. Seeking help doesn’t have to be a one-time thing. Keep getting help until you can stand on your own.
15. Plan a Sober Life
Finally, feel free to plan your new sober life. Don’t be afraid that it will be rules and struggle forever. Planning a bright and hopeful future gives you something to work towards.
Knowing that your struggles today will mean something tomorrow can mean a world of difference between suffering and enduring. Look forward to your progress and don’t dread your past.
Live Better
Fighting through life doesn’t always have to be an uphill struggle! Capitalize on the groundwork done by many people before you and learn how to live life without limits. Figure out what you need to figure out by checking out our education blog.
If you have the time and means, consider the many benefits of travel to your wellness and future goals.