Recovery from addiction is possible. However, it requires a huge amount of time, effort, and willpower, not to mention a whole lot of support, for it to be successful.
On your journey towards sobriety, if you choose to attend a rehab program, there are 4 specific phases that you will need to go through in order to get on the road to recovery and get sober.
The 4 Phases Of An Addiction Rehab Program For A Successful Recovery Journey
The four stages of addiction rehab are as follows:
- Initiating treatment
- Detoxification
- Maintaining sobriety
- Advanced recovery
Let’s take a look at each stage in a little more detail.
Stage 1: Initiation of treatment
This is the first stage that anyone who wants help with addiction must go through. It is the process of reaching out to a rehab facility and asking for help. Sometimes, this decision will be your own and sometimes circumstances will demand that you initiate treatment but once you do, your journey to recovery can begin.
This stage is often very difficult because you might have mixed feelings about going into rehab or you might feel like you do not actually have a big enough problem to actually need help. You may also be scared about what will happen to you in rehab and who you will be if treatment is successful and you get sober. This is all very normal and your rehab team will help you to work through these feelings.
In this stage of recovery, you will work with the rehab team to look at your current behaviors and how your addiction is harming you and develop an individual treatment plan to help you on the road to sobriety.
Stage 2: Detoxification
Stage 2 of the process is all about abstinence. Once you are committed to entering treatment, you will enter into a process known as early abstinence or detoxification. This means that you will need to either stop taking drugs completely or in some cases, you will need to work with a medical professional to lower your dosage gradually until it is safe for you to discontinue drug use completely.
The detoxification stage is undoubtedly the toughest because withdrawal symptoms such as pain, nausea, muscle spasms, and cravings can be hard to deal with, but if you are in our rehab facility, you will be cared for and helped every step of the way to get through the detoxification process as best as possible.
During this time, you may find that you crave substances or that your will to abstain is weak, but you will have a trained addiction counselor on hand to help you build coping skills that are healthy and supportive of a sober lifestyle going forward.
Stage 3: Maintaining sobriety
After a period of sustained abstinence (usually 90 days) you will move on to the third stage of the process which is often referred to as maintaining sobriety/abstinence. For most people who have been receiving treatment as an inpatient, this will mean moving to outpatient services, but this does not mean you will not still be supported.
The focus during this time is squarely on staying sober. Your therapist will work with you to develop camping techniques and positive behaviors that you can use to avoid relapse. This may include things like managing your anger and substituting negative addictions with more positive activities as well as therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy which enable you to gain more control over your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Most people will engage with this phase of the rehab program until they are several years sober upon which they will be discharged.
Stage 4: Advanced recovery
At this stage, which usually comes at the five-year sober mark, counseling will generally end and you will use all of the skills you have learned during your rehab program to live a healthy, happy, and sober life. You will set goals., develop a daily routine, engage with the world around you, and hopefully build a far more fulfilling life for youself free from drugs and the issues they bring.
The 4 phases of an addiction rehab program for a successful recovery journey are pretty comprehensive, as you can see, but it is worth bearing in mind that recovery from substance abuse is a lifelong process. You will always need to use the tools you developed to stay on the right path and you may need to seek additional support from time to time.
If you would like to know more about The 4 phases of an addiction rehab program for a successful recovery journey, do not hesitate to get in touch with The Robert Alexander Center for Recovery, today.
