Drug Rehabilitation And Aftercare in Birmingham
Finishing drug treatment is a worthy undertaking. As such, you should feel proud of yourself for making it through a drug and alcohol addiction treatment plan. After all, it takes a significant level of commitment and effort to put the lessons, skills, and information you learned during drug rehabilitation into practice while attempting to change your life.
However, there is more to addiction rehab than merely undergoing detox and therapy. More specifically, you need a combination of alcohol and drug rehabilitation and aftercare to increase your chances of success in long-term recovery.
In addition, aftercare programs are crucial because they can help you pursue a life free of harmful and mind-altering drugs after you check out of a Birmingham, Alabama alcohol and drug rehab center. More importantly, you will have to maintain the lessons you learned void of the structure, care, and constant monitoring offered through drug and alcohol addiction treatment.
That said, alcohol and drug rehab and aftercare programs often come in three distinctive types: 12 step and non-12 step programs, follow-up counseling, and sober living programs. Since drug and alcohol addiction is such a frustrating, demanding, and complicated condition, it is imperative that you get effective treatment and aftercare to ensure higher success rates in treatment.
Understanding The Need For Alcohol And Drug Treatment And Aftercare
With effective treatment offered through alcohol and drug treatment along with aftercare, you can improve your life so that you no longer have to continue struggling with substance abuse and addiction. In many instances, you will find that the rehab options offered to you will be tailored to meet your specific needs and preferences. Only then will you have a shot at obtaining better results for sobriety and abstinence in the long term.
Sadly, most individuals who require specialized addiction rehab never receive it. In fact, a recent report published by SAMHSA (or the substance abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) showed that only about 11% of the individuals requiring rehabilitation receive it.
To this end, if you count yourself as one of the more than 2.5 million individuals who have sought treatment through alcohol and drug treatment or finished the initial stages of treatment, you need to reward yourself. The simple fact that you took the initial fundamental step towards addressing your substance use disorder and any co-occurring mental health disorder is commendable.
Even so, you need to remember that drug and alcohol treatment and aftercare go hand in hand. This means that finishing drug addiction rehabilitation will require some form of aftercare program to boost your chances of success.
In particular, you can be sure that the drug addiction treatment process will not be over after you take part in medically managed detox and an initial rehabilitation program. More importantly, you also need to take strong measures to ensure that you continue living a lifestyle free of drugs in the long term.
This process involves a combination of drug treatment and aftercare.
About Drug Addiction Aftercare
If you are plagued by drug and alcohol addiction and a substance use disorder, you may first embark on your rehabilitation plan with a stay at a Birmingham detox facility. During this stay, you will most likely receive professionally supervised and medically managed detoxification services.
Depending on the alcohol and drugs you were abusing as well as the suggestions from the treatment staff you will get to work with, detoxification is a process that might sometimes require the use of prescription drugs.
Whether the center utilizes medications or not, detox is usually designed in such a way that it can ensure that you clear all substances (as well as their toxic influence and effects) from your system in the fastest, safest, and most comfortable way.
Although, you also need drug rehab and aftercare services after you pass through this initial stage of drug and alcohol addiction treatment. This is primarily because detoxification is not going to be adequate to make sure you abstain from drugs and alcohol in the long term.
To this end, it is important to have structured drug addiction treatment in Birmingham, Alabama - either in an outpatient or an inpatient or residential program to ensure your ongoing recovery from the intoxicating and mind-altering drugs you were misusing.
Even though the time-line for this formal treatment will vary from one client to another, this phase of treatment may come to an endpoint. Once you reach this stage in rehab, you will be encouraged to pursue efforts to ensure your recovery and sobriety in the long term.
This is why you should combine alcohol and drug rehab and aftercare. In particular, as you take part in rehabilitation, you may be required to take part in aftercare planning with the experts and counselors at the addiction treatment program you check into for rehabilitation.
From different principles of rehab, the best drug rehabilitation and aftercare program should offer comprehensive services to address your:
- Childcare
- Education
- Finances
- Housing
- Legal involvement
- Medical status, including testing for HIV/AIDS and treatment for it, if found
- Mental health care
- Relationships
- Transportation
- Vocation
The aftercare program could also come in the form of:
- Individual and/or group therapy
- Outpatient rehab, such as partial hospitalization programs (PHP), intensive outpatient facilities (IOP)
- Sober facilities like therapeutic communities, recovery housing, and the social model as well as residential re-entry
- Support groups like 12-step groups, non-12-step groups, peer recovery support networks, and adolescent facilities
And finally, the treatment programs in Birmingham that prioritize recovery will not send you on your way unless you have devised a logical and solid aftercare plan. The programs may also put you in connection with high-quality aftercare centers where you will continue making the gains you made under treatment.
How Aftercare Works
Irrespective of the setting, the methods used, and the treatment provided, the goal of aftercare would typically include:
- Achieving a lifestyle of rewarding relationships, productivity, and a sense of direction and purpose
- Finding ways to prevent relapse
- Maintaining recovery after a period of drug and alcohol abuse
Aftercare facilities are a form of continuing rehab that ensures total recovery. This is because every type of alcohol and drug abuse comes with the risk of changing how your brain normally functions.
Overall, the physical effects of drug addiction may be accompanied by psychological changes - which could affect your behavior, feelings, and thoughts. To this end, you require a combination of drug and alcohol rehab and aftercare in Birmingham, Alabama to deal with all the physiological changes that are associated with substance abuse.
