If you’re about to complete your treatment program, you may be feeling so thankful that you’ve gotten to this point in your recovery. It’s a huge feat – and you’ve gained an incredible amount of skills and support to help guide you in future life events. Completing treatment doesn’t mean that your journey through recovery is over; in fact, some may say that your journey’s just begun! Now that you’ve got a strong foundation down for recovery, it’s time to think about the next step in this process: maintenance. Maintenance occurs when a person continues to take steps to ensuring their on the right track towards health and wellness. Relapse is still a concern, so a person may want to become involved in addiction recovery-related activities to continue reinforcing the goals they have. For many, extended care is an incredibly viable option because it serves as a smooth transition between long-term, residential care and fully independent living. Extended Care involves an intensive outpatient treatment program (IOP), which provides those in recovery with several hours of weekly support in 12-Step programs, meditation groups, nightly review groups and more. A 2015 study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence found that this type of extended care is associated with increased abstinence after residential treatment; furthermore, 12-Step involvement only helps a person become stronger in recovery and is also linked to abstinence. The study further noted that the greater the involvement in recovery activities, the greater a person’s chances were of maintaining abstinence during this time – the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) notes that it’s because of the opportunities in IOPs that many people find so much success:
- Opportunities for individuals to continues participating in group recovery experiences
- The ability to easily continue on routines formed in residential treatment to a more independent-style way of living
- A safe environment that those in recovery can attend each week
- And more
If you’re ready to take that next step towards healing and restoration, speak with a professional from The Arbor today.
Arbor Behavioral Healthcare offers an integrative and holistic approach to treat substance abuse and a wide variety of addictions, as well as underlying mental health and psychological issues. All of the addiction recovery programs offered by The Arbor are designed to heal the mind, body, and spirit leading to a lifetime of sobriety, health and wellness. If you’re ready to find healing and restoration in a peaceful, loving environment, please call us today at 844-560-7269.