Ten Tips to Help You Succeed in Rehab
You’ve Made the Decision to Get Help
The journey to recovery begins now
Suppose you are new to residential recovery for addiction treatment. In that case, you may wonder what you need to do to succeed in rehab.
First, congratulations on making the decision to get clean. Addiction is a progressive and deadly disease. Long-term residential treatment facilities offer addicts the ability to get clean, rebuild their lives, and enjoy a future they never imagined.
Ten Tips to Help You Succeed in Rehab
Use them and pave the way to a brighter future
- Follow Directions and Resist the Urge to Rebel
Every addiction treatment facility has rules. As addicts, we have managed our own lives for a long time. Our self-will has resulted in our addictions, and we need help to get back on track. Following the rules of a treatment facility is not something we are used to or like, yet it’s essential if we want to succeed in rehab.
It may be tempting to balk at authority and argue about new rules that must be followed. Remember, the rules are in place to give our lives structure and teach us discipline. Follow them even when you disagree to learn the value of self-control. Plus, there is a feeling of safety that eventually comes from structure. For addicts like us who didn’t know what to expect from minute to minute, it’s nice to have a schedule we can count on.
Rules are in place to keep us safe. Remember that when we rebel, it’s our disease telling us what to do – and that disease doesn’t have our best interests at heart.
- Have an Open Mind
Treatment for addiction includes attending twelve-step meetings at AA or NA. Go to these meetings with an open mind so you can relate to and learn from other addicts.
Be open to the residential recovery treatment model. Having roommates and living with others may seem overwhelming, but it offers a valuable sense of community.
- Be Willing
The first step in Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions from Alcoholics Anonymous says we need to become as willing as the dying can be.
Apply the willingness you have to get clean to treatment, and you will succeed in rehab. That may mean becoming willing to do chores, take medication, or attend counseling. Find the willingness to listen to your treatment team, and positive results will follow.
- Be Patient
Recovery from addiction does not happen overnight; we can’t work the twelve steps in one day.
It may take time to feel the sense of relief that recovery offers. But we must be patient and give ourselves the gift of time.
Too many of us lose patience and relapse before completing treatment or step work. One relapse can be deadly, so patience is essential to a successful experience in rehab.
- Get a Sponsor
At every twelve-step meeting, we get the opportunity to ask a man or woman in the program to sponsor us. When we find someone you can relate to and who has substantial clean time, we can ask them to sponsor us.
Working the steps with a sponsor is a beautiful and powerful tool. It is a healing that no other recovery tool can duplicate or offer. When we give ourselves the gift of sponsorship, we improve our chances of long-term clean time.
- Find a Spiritual Connection
Spirituality offers a sense of comfort and peace that no addictive substance can replicate. Whether we believe in God and enjoy prayer or prefer meditation or nature, finding a way to feel spiritually grounded is crucial to healthy sobriety. So, find something that helps connect your spirit to the world around you. It will help you succeed in rehab and beyond.
Faith and the sense of freedom that comes with the understanding that we are not in control is so important. For those who don’t believe in God, you can put faith in your treatment team or the twelve-step program. The point is to find a power greater than yourself that wants the best for you.
- Trust the Process
It’s ok the feel overwhelmed when reading the twelve steps for the first time. And it’s ok to read them and think they’ll never work for you. In fact, all your feelings about the program and the steps are valid.
Most newcomers have doubts. The key, though, is to trust the process and recognize that the twelve-step recovery model has worked for MILLIONS since it was first written in 1938.
Even if you have tried working the steps before, please try again. They are the gateway to freedom. To succeed in rehab, start working them with a sponsor while you’re in treatment.
- Get a Notebook
Journaling is a powerful tool. So, get a pen and a notebook, and take some quiet time to write while in rehab.
We ALL feel a million emotions when we get clean. Write them down to get them out and let them go. And, to help center yourself, use the notebook to create a daily gratitude list. Writing what we are thankful for is a powerful tool. It keeps us motivated and propels us into another clean day!
- Build a Network
Attending residential treatment for addiction offers us a chance to build a network of friends with the same common purpose – staying clean and sober. Take advantage of the opportunity to live in a group setting and enjoy the sense of community it brings. Recovering with others can be so much fun. So, make connections, and enjoy.
It’s equally important to begin building a network of clean and sober people that attend twelve-step meetings. That way, you create a large group of friends and always have someone to call when you need to talk.
- Don’t Leave Early!
Finish treatment if you want to succeed in rehab and build a strong foundation for long-term sobriety. If you leave early, you won’t have the sense of accomplishment that comes from finishing.
For some of us, finishing our treatment and completing the twelve steps is the first thing we’ve seen through to the end. So, stay in treatment and let it be the first of many things you start and finish successfully.
Breakthrough Recovery Outreach Can Help You Succeed in Rehab
We’ll give you the tools you need for long-term recovery.
Please contact us. We want to be part of your success story!
