The 5 Steps for a Healthy Sobriety Journey
Too often people struggling with addiction have no idea how to get started. The process is life long, and requires a constant state of vigilance. WIth a firm desire and a little bit of willingness, the addict can find a new life with boundless possibilities. Here are our suggestions on how to gain and maintain a “Design for Living” for the addict who still suffers.
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1) Check in to a Detox
The first steps towards getting well is to work on the body. Many of us have struggled with trying to get sober because we have an intense fear of withdrawal symptoms. Some drugs can lead to death if stopped suddenly without medical assistance and observation. Depending on the drug, we suggest a level 4 detox facility, with clinical and medical monitoring. Many addicts stop after this step which rarely works. We suggest finding an inpatient program next.
2) Continue to Inpatient Treatment
Most detox facilities are familiar with residential treatment centers in their area (The Haven has a discharge coordinator who can recommend residential programs tailored to the client’s insurance and other needs). Immersion into a sober environment , accompanied by education and counseling, can greatly increase the chances of success in sobriety. Upon release from an inpatient program, we suggest finding an aftercare group that meets a few days per week, or what is known as IOP.
3) Join an IOP group
IOP usually consists of group meetings 3-5 times per week, along with individual counseling sessions with a licensed therapist. IOP can last between 6-8 months depending on the client’s level of care and approval from insurance. It is recommended during this time to attend 12 step meetings for sustained sobriety.
4) Get a Home Group
Finding an AA home group or other 12 step program has shown to greatly increase connectedness and enlarge a person’s sober, social circle. Having people in recovery helps with accountability and engagement. We highly recommend getting a sponsor and working the 12 steps, as this is the “meat” of recovery. One addict/alcoholic transmitting their experience and understanding to the next addict/alcoholic, brings us to our most important step.
5) Work with Others
The best way to learn anything is to teach it. Having a broad understanding of the 12 steps and daily living in recovery can save the life of another addict/alcoholic. Many people who have been sober for many years will say that helping others is the, “bright spot of their lives”. Watching the light turn on in someone’s eyes is a joy not to be missed.
Helping others is who we are. Reach out now if you or someone you know is struggling.
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You can do it!
Each of these steps, in this order has been proven to save lives. We highly recommend sponsoring others and getting involved in service work with your home group. This is a road map for success, and while everyone’s journey is different, these 5 steps for a healthy sobriety journey will keep you pointed in the right direction. If you don’t know where to start, start here.
Learn More“I’m Too Smart for a Detox Program”
Getting and staying sober has been the biggest hurdle for me in this life so far. I have been at it since 1986, and that is A LOT of in and out of recovery. Six months here, three months there. One excuse after another, but I think it boils down to the unfortunate idea that I thought I was too smart for the simple program of recovery that has saved literally millions of lives. Too smart to get sober. The perilous mindset of countless alcoholics.
My Personal Backstory
I go to high school and interact with hundreds of people followed by college, which allowed me to have a broader understanding of the social variances in the population. I learn that there are many different types of people with varied types of experiences out there. Yet they all seem, in my eyes, to share an underlying cohesiveness. A common viewpoint about what is useful and meaningful in each of their individual lives and collective communities. But I don’t think I have the filter or focus that others have. In fact, I KNOW I don’t have it. My joy comes from shocking others, the way I balk at their connectedness. I am at the fray, the subversive outcast. I search out the differences and shun the similarities. I drink to numb my otherness. This is when I feel the need to fit in.
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Alcohol Made Me Think I Was Invincible – I Was Wrong
I drink more and when I do, I begin to understand the connections all these people have to one another. I can talk without fear of saying the wrong thing. How glorious this is! Albeit a little louder than I intended. Everyone around me is laughing at my jokes, confiding in me with their secrets and ideas. Conviviality is finally mine! And I drink more, and get louder still. And the stories I tell are less my own and more creative in origin. And I see doubt in some eyes. Then I feel the heat of anger in my face. Because I know that for tonight, this is the end. The spell has broken. The window has closed. No more laughs. They are walking away as I speak. Another drink and another. A couple of these people are still near me, though it seems more out of responsibility and fear of what I might do if they leave me alone than of camaraderie. Then, nothingness. I awake without my keys or my wallet or my phone. The only thing I seem to have left on me is regret.
The 12 Keys to the Kingdom
I’m handed what the recovery community call, the “Keys to the Kingdom” in these 12 Steps[r1] . So simple. Sure, let me give it a whirl! I work through them with a hungry fervor. And I feel alive again for the first time in a long time. A glimpse of clarity. I’m told these tools will only work if I work them daily. But I’m smarter, quite frankly, than MOST of these drunks who need it every day. So I set them aside. And the fog slowly returns. And before long I’m drunk again. No wallet, no phone, no comprehension of how this could have happened again.
Almost 3 Years Sober!
Now, as I approach my 3 years sober mark this time, I occasionally think I’ve outgrown the program. I don’t need to run every idea by my sponsor and that meetings are just for fellowship. I’ve read the literature to the point of being able to recite it all from memory and have confidence that I can do this alone. Experience has taught me time and time again where my intellectual independence leads me.
I go to a meeting and call my sponsor. I read my literature, sometimes out loud to a new sponsee! I get on my knees and pray. And because I do all these things on a daily basis I don’t pick up the drink. I don’t question why it works. Or how. I don’t try to out-think the magical simplicity that arises out of surrendering, cleaning house and helping others. I just do it. And I begin to focus on the similarities. And I recognize my story in others. I begin to feel our commonality and our connection. And in connection I find the truth about all knowledge. That we each have unique, personal experience, and therefore a limited understanding of the world. But we can see everything through the eyes of one another.
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