Life After Rehab: Challenges, Aftercare, and Coping Skills

This will also help us establish and maintain healthy interpersonal boundaries. But again, healthy communication is a skill that must be learned, it typically is not second nature for those with a history of substance abuse and dependence. When it comes to effectively walking through challenges while maintaining sobriety, it is better to be prepared for what’s ahead.

• Maintaining social networks that are founded upon love, friendship, support, and hope are an essential component.
• One of the greatest challenges of early recovery is controlling the impulse to relapse.
• A recovery coach is not a sponsor–they do have some formal training and they don’t take you through the 12-steps, but they also aren’t a therapist or counselor.
• People of all ages, genders, socio-economic levels, backgrounds, races, and educational levels succumb to their painful addictions on a daily basis.
• Early recovery refers to anywhere from 1 day sober to 1 year sober.

We understand transitioning out of a rehabilitation center and back into the real world can feel overwhelming. If you’re concerned about making the transition, consider a transitional living program that allows you to slowly transition into the real world.

Addiction Types

One of the most critical aspects of the recovery process is connecting with others and becoming part of a supportive community. In rehab, this includes both mental health professionals and peers who are on the same path to healing. The more individuals engage with this support system, the more therapeutic benefit they’ll get from the experience. You will have to learn how to effectively communicate your emotions. Those who are struggling with active addiction go to great lengths to hide and stifle their emotions. When we express how we feel, we are more inclined to have our needs met.

As mentioned, for some early recovery is amazing, for others it is a daily struggle. But no matter what, life long recovery and happiness are within reach for all.

Achieve Drug Addiction Recovery With Help From Reco Intensive

However, you’ll also need to manage more responsibilities at home, find a job, fulfill financial obligations, put your new coping strategies into action, and much more. For many people in recovery, this transition can be extremely challenging and it may be tempting to give up and use again.

For example, many individuals in early recovery get into relationships too early on in their sobriety. Before they have a chance to address their addictive personality and behaviors, they begin to date. This could cause an individual to become “addicted” to their romantic partner. When an individual has recovered from their substance use disorder, they may begin to replace the substances they were addicted to with another thing, behavior, or even a person.

What Are Some Lesser-Known Signs of Addiction?

Often means that activities you did for fun and the people with whom you did them must be avoided. Create healthcare diagrams like this example called Five Common Challenges in Early Recovery in minutes with SmartDraw. SmartDraw includes 1000s of professional healthcare and anatomy chart templates that you can modify and make your own. If there are any concerns about content we have published, please reach out to us at The wealth of support and resources in the room is a powerful reminder that you’re not alone in your struggles. Like the problem, the solution is spiritual in nature, according to Jacob. He said, “I’m powerless until I’m in relationship with my Higher Power.” The 12 Steps pave the way to getting there and experiencing true spiritual transformation from the inside out.

The nature of an alumni program may vary from one rehab center to the next. Most rehab centers have their own special ways of supporting alumni. Surround yourself with a group of supportive women like the ones at New Life and take the first step to a sober life.

Common Challenges People Face in Early Recovery

This helps explain why it can be so challenging to get them to accept the advice or guidance of others, especially when it comes to mental health or addiction. HALT is an acronym used in the recovery community that stands for the 4 states of mind that can make a sober individual more vulnerable to relapse- “Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired”. It has reframing holidays in early recovery been suggested that the acronym should actually read HALTS, because being “Sick” can have such an impact on those particularly in early sobriety. Illness has been a huge theme over the past few years, and along with the pandemic has also come the expectation that individuals will quarantine or isolate when they have COVID or even other illnesses.

• Create healthcare diagrams like this example called Five Common Challenges in Early Recovery in minutes with SmartDraw.
• Addiction and mental health problems can increase feelings of loneliness or isolation, causing some to fall back into destructive habits if left unchecked.
• Are you struggling in recovery and tempted to drink or use again?
• Fortunately, a reputable addiction treatment center will offer case management and recovery coaching services that can help you build a resume, develop work-life skills, and find work.
• The people we hung out with or the places we visited while under the influence can be detrimental to your future.
• You have to get them, which sometimes takes some effort, and you have to carve out enough time to use them with the least amount of trouble.

They are then on shaky ground as their life becomes increasingly stressful. Such an individual will usually turn to inappropriate coping mechanisms as a way to deal with their dissatisfaction and inner turmoil. This path eventually leads them right back to alcohol or drugs. After drug and alcohol rehab, many people find that they lack purpose in life. Adapting to a life that doesn’t revolve around drug and alcohol abuse can be very difficult. One way that drug and alcohol rehab helps recovering addicts combat this issue is by introducing them to new hobbies and interests such as yoga, art, music, and meditation. These are all different aspects of behavioral therapy at Extra Mile Recovery Center.