What Are the Next Steps After Finishing Inpatient Treatment?
Participating in an inpatient rehab program is a crucial step for many in their addiction recovery. With medically monitored detox sessions and holistic treatment strategies, these rehabilitation programs help address your physical symptoms as well as emotional and psychological needs. If you have successfully completed your inpatient treatment, you should be really proud of yourself.
However, your recovery journey does not stop at completing your inpatient treatment. You need to continue working on yourself even after leaving your inpatient treatment center. Since the chances of relapse remain high during the first few months, you must plan your recovery journey carefully once you finish your inpatient rehab. Here are a few tips that you may find useful.
Create a Stable Living Environment
A stable living environment after inpatient treatment is key to long-term success in recovery. A stable living environment should be free of emotional and physical trauma. It should also be free of illicit drugs, alcohol, and habit-forming prescription medications. Since you are more likely to experience relapse during this stage of recovery, you need to stay away from all the potential triggers.
You can look for sober living homes if your home does not offer such an environment. These facilities offer accommodation options where you can have a supportive community and recovery assistance to start a new life free from alcohol and other drugs. The sober living programs help you maintain sobriety and offer a number of recovery support services, including employment assistance, educational planning, volunteer placement, and certified peer programs.
Take Advantage of the Support Network You Had During Treatment
When you complete your inpatient treatment program, you are encouraged to remain in touch with the connections you made there. Most patients require some level of outpatient treatment support to aid their recovery journey, and these connections can be quite useful during that period. Most rehabilitation centers in the US offer both inpatient and outpatient treatment services. You can seamlessly transition from an inpatient program to an outpatient program at your preferred treatment center and utilize the same support network.
With continuous support and care, along with professional guidance, you can progress toward higher levels of independence and self-responsibility. Since the risk of relapse remains high during the first year of recovery, outpatient care and other ongoing services make it several times easier to move through this transition without relapsing. When you already know the caregivers, therapists, and other patients, the recovery journey becomes a lot smoother.
Explore the Outpatient Services for Better Results
With outpatient services, you can gradually ease your way back into the normal routine of everyday living. Most of these outpatient services revisit numerous lessons and skills that were taught in inpatient addiction treatment. They also offer better opportunities to practice new coping skills while facing real-life challenges.
As you continue exploring outpatient services, you will learn more about practicing proper self-care. Since outpatient treatment only requires a 12- to 35-hour commitment every week, you can use your free time to meet new friends and find sober partners. Also, the programs are flexible enough to meet your various needs. You can return to school/work or meet with life-planning counselors while attending an outpatient program.
Develop Good Habits
When you suffer from an addiction problem, you hardly pay attention to self-care. Once you finish your inpatient treatment program, you should focus on learning good self-care practices and making them a part of your daily routine. This is critical for avoiding relapse after inpatient treatment. If you are confused about what habits to cultivate, here are a few suggestions:
- Develop good sleep hygiene
- Perform regular physical exercise
- Follow a healthy, balanced diet
- Diligently focus on stress management
- Maintain regular social interaction
Individuals recovering from addiction are advised never to let themselves become too hungry, angry, lonely, or tired (H.A.L.T.). When you are facing these issues, you are more likely to succumb to triggers, temptations, and stress.
Conclusion
Completing an inpatient treatment program is certainly a massive step toward a life of sobriety, but that is just the beginning. To maintain your sobriety, prevent relapses, and return to the normal flow of everyday life, you need to create a safer living environment, surround yourself with supportive people, attend outpatient treatment programs, and develop good habits. The choices you make after completing your rehab will determine your success in recovery.
