Aftercare in addiction treatment refers to the additional support offered to the addicts following their release from the residential part of the program. This helps the addicts to fight relapse and be able to stay on track with their recovery plan and realize their short- and long-term goals. Those programs include and not limited to:
- Support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) to assist those overcoming addiction by providing encouragement and necessary support that help them maintain drug free life.
- Booster sessions- sessions usually are scheduled for the recovering addicts to help them maintain recovery by learning new strategies to cope, share their experiences.
- Follow up meetings- staffs are required to follow-up on addicts to ensure they are not giving in to relapse and also getting feedback from them so that victims get helped in other ways to overcome co-occurring problems.
- Continuous medical attention-this is necessary for clients who suffer from both addiction and mental health problem to help not to relapse.
- Emotional regulation- this program helps clients acquire skills that enable them evaluate their emotions by resting urges.
- Outpatient monitoring- addicts on recovery will always continue to seek treatment on outpatient basis after returning home.
- Sober coach-when addicts return home, they will always be accompanied by sober coach who will help them be accountable to avoid relapse and offer any other assistance.
Importance of Aftercare Program
- You get the chance to build yourself together again and accountable by having some standards for yourself than you did when you were using.
- You regain control over your finances and become stable financially.
- You get to address and cement your relationships with the family, friends, and colleagues.
- You will have the opportunity to handle the everyday challenges that come with recovery by developing new coping strategies, rebuilding your relationships with others, and even finding purpose with your life.
- You will be in a position to know the risk factors of relapse such as stress, overconfidence on recovery, among others and know how to manage them.
- You will be able to learn how to get solutions for problems that you face during recovery, and this encourages one to concentrate on the aftercare program.
- You will be able to overcome relapse so that you do not waste your efforts and time after you had made progressive improvement.
- Aftercare program allows you to learn from other people their real-life encounters. You will be able to talk about your experiences and get encouraged from what you are doing right, and you also get advice on what you should do when you are not able to fight some triggers that may make you slip to the old ways.
- You will get the opportunity to belong to community groups during your aftercare program. Depending on your needs, you will choose the program that suits you and be attending lessons, be it morning, evening, or weekly as per your chosen schedule.
- Aftercare programs come in various types, and therefore, an individual can choose the one that suits their needs and schedule in a case where is working.
To conclude, the aftercare program should be engineered so that it touches on all aspects to prevent co-occurring issues that can worsen or lead to relapse. Aftercare program when adhered to can work prevent you from relapsing.