Developing a Supportive Social Circle

Investing heavily in developing a social support structure is essential immediately after recovery. Having a community of people helps to prevent isolation, a struggle that commonly leads to relapse in the early stages of recovery.

Social circles should involve support groups. Support groups serve as networks to help you open up and be supported by like-minded individuals so that you stay on the right track.

Your social circle might include access to peer support, therapy, and medical support. Having people you can turn to for moral support or help getting a ride to and from an appointment can make completing all of the essential elements in your recovery easier.

Liberty House Recovery is a luxury drug and alcohol rehab center in Michigan. Contact us today to learn more about how our Michigan drug treatment center can help.

Types of Social Support in Recovery

There are several types of social support you can build while in recovery.

Having Someone to Offer Tangible Support

When you leave a residential treatment program, you might have to transition back to a life where the ramifications of drug addiction are still present, such as:

  • Not having stable housing
  • Being unemployed
  • Having strained relationships
  • Not having money
  • Not having a license or a car

You will inevitably face several setbacks along the way as you return to your community environment and not only contend with triggers and challenges that were left behind but these tangible issues like not having a job and not having a license or a car so that you could drive to a new job. 

When you have a support circle, you have people you can bounce ideas off of and people who can offer tangible support.

  • Maybe someone in your support circle can help you look up community bus schedules and find out where all the relevant stops are for areas where you are looking for a job or where you want to go back to school
  • Maybe someone in your support circle can help drive you to places like the DMV and stay with you while you make an appointment to renew your driver’s license
  • Maybe a family member who is a part of your support circle can help you by providing a stable living environment while you transition
  • Maybe someone close to you can help you find a used car, find temporary work, or offer financial support when getting a loan 

Having Someone to Call

It’s important to have a friend or family member that you can just call when you need to talk or when you want to participate in a sober activity.

You never know when you might deal with:

  • A flashback or a recall of a particularly painful struggle
  • A time when you hurt your family
  • Need to get advice on how to manage a current relationship
  • Need to talk about a job problem

In recovery, you might still struggle with keeping a regular schedule, so this person could be someone who is available when you are often awake or someone who doesn’t mind you calling late at night or in the morning.

Having Someone from a Support Group

That person you can call to meet with you or talk with you might not be the same person you have from a support group. They could very well be someone who’s never experienced addiction.

If that’s the case, having someone from your support group is also important as part of your social support and recovery. When developing a support social circle, someone in your network who has a background in addiction can better empathize with unique experiences, struggles, or thoughts that a supportive friend or family simply might not be able to do.

Having a Mentor

Similarly, you want a mentor, possibly from a support group or possibly someone you meet elsewhere. That mentor should be someone who has experience and can offer something more than moral support.

If you are struggling, or if you need help finding a job, or you decide you want to go back to school, your mentor should be someone who can help you facilitate those decisions or, at the very least, connect you to someone who can.

Liberty House’s Alumni Group

When developing a support social circle, one of the easiest ways to find social support and recovery is to participate in alumni activities. Alumni programs and aftercare programs provide a chance to meet with other people who have gone through the same type of treatment plan or who have transitioned into recovery themselves. 

Aftercare with Liberty House

Liberty House is committed to providing strong aftercare benefits to help maintain long-term sobriety. This type of transition occurs immediately after completing your treatment program, and it provides assistance with social support in recovery so that you don’t have lapses in support or care during a critical transition time frame.

We offer relapse prevention programs which serve as a key component to creating a supportive and comfortable atmosphere conducive to developing a support social circle of other people who can speak openly about:

  • Strengths
  • Weaknesses
  • Struggles
  • Feelings
  • Triggers
  • Temptations
  • Cravings

Overall, recovering from addiction is a lifelong process, and when you return to your regular environment in the early stages of recovery, having a strong and stable support circle around you can help you maintain your sobriety.

Call us today to learn how we set you up for success with our alumni and aftercare programs.

What Are Some Long-Term Goals For Sobriety?

What Are Some Long-Term Goals For Sobriety?

Long-term sobriety is a goal to which everyone struggling with addiction should aspire. But what are the best recovery goals? What does long-term sobriety really look like?

Liberty House Recovery is the best luxury drug and alcohol rehab center in Michigan. Contact us today to learn more about the benefits of drug treatment centers in Michigan.

Triggers

One of the biggest sobriety goals is to be able to face your triggers without a relapse. Many people mistakenly believe that “recovery” means avoiding triggers forever, but in reality, true recovery means not being triggered by triggers. 

For example:

Clarissa struggled with addiction to benzodiazepines. She would get a prescription from her doctor in town and the next town over. She would hide her pills in her sock drawer and her purse. She would also borrow prescriptions from friends. 

Immediately after treatment, that doctor’s office or her sock drawer might be a trigger, but long term, Clarissa can’t be expected to never go to the doctor again, avoid her friends, and buy new furniture. 

Instead, her long-term sobriety means she can visit the doctor for regular illnesses and concerns while reflecting on her recovery and not immediately relapsing. 

Safe Housing

For other individuals, long-term goals for sobriety include safe housing. It’s not uncommon for people struggling with addiction to also struggle with legal issues, and sometimes those legal issues are what prompted them to get help in the first place.

But not everyone comes from a safe, supportive home environment. 

  • Some people have lost their home
  • Others have a home that isn’t supportive of recovery

Long-term sobriety means having stable housing that isn’t a halfway house or any type of transitional home, but it’s a place where you are safe and supported in your sobriety.

Financial Stability

Long-term goals for sobriety include financial stability. Without financial stability, people are more susceptible to relapse because it can cause anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues.

Financial stability as a sobriety goal or recovery goal is individualized to each client. If you participate in a treatment program that includes aftercare services, you can sit down with a professional and review things like:

  • Your current debts
  • How to get out of debt
  • How to budget each month
  • How to start a savings account
  • How to open a new account

Financial stability might include secondary and tertiary recovery goals like going back to school, getting a job, or getting a better job. 

Education and Career Development

Other long-term goals for sobriety include career and educational goals. Aftercare planning can help you:

  • Learn how to write a resume
  • Go back to school
  • Get your GED
  • Apply for a promotion
  • Get a new job
  • Ask for a raise

Every client is in a different place when they leave drug and alcohol rehab. 

  • Some clients just need their GED so they can apply for a job with stable benefits and a reliable income. 
  • Others may have a job waiting for them, but they need to know how they can get a raise.
  • Still, some might be in between; they want to go back to school to get more education or go to college, but they also need help finding jobs and applying for them.

Socialization/Hobbies

Long-term sobriety shouldn’t function like a prison sentence. It’s not meant to be a lifetime of guilt, struggle, or isolation. In fact, sobriety goals should include more socialization but with people who support your sobriety.

It’s not uncommon for this to include a whole new set of friends if addiction is the shared trait with those closest to you. Tangentially it’s important to develop new hobbies that you can do with your new friends. Some common hobbies include:

  • Crafting
  • Hiking
  • Rock climbing
  • Woodworking
  • Yoga
  • Creative writing
  • Sports
  • Gardening
  • Music

Learning new skills can help you continue down your road to development, improved cognition, and better physical health. Socializing while you engage in those hobbies can alleviate the risk of isolation in recovery and encourage you to continue to meet other recovery goals with support from those closest to you. 

Reaching Long-Term Goals for Sobriety

Long-term sobriety can be facilitated with help from treatment centers like Liberty House. Not only do we offer comprehensive Michigan inpatient treatment and detox services, but we also provide aftercare. Aftercare and supportive housing services make it easier to achieve your sobriety goals. 

With our aftercare planning services, clients have a chance to figure out what their sobriety goals are, how they can go about achieving them, and what long-term sobriety looks like.

Call Liberty House today at 1-866-686-0319 to learn more about achieving your recovery goals. 

Find the Best Sober Living Home in Michigan

Find the Best Sober Living Home in Michigan

For many people, the biggest obstacle they face after leaving drug and alcohol rehab is finding a supportive, drug-free home environment. Relapse is much higher with individuals who do not have access to stable housing. Unstable housing doesn’t support sobriety and can be full of triggers that lead to a relapse. For that reason, it’s important to plan for what happens after your residential treatment by finding the best sober living home in Michigan.

What is Sober Living?

Sober Living is a form of drug and alcohol-free housing usually monitored by state agencies. There are several benefits of Sober Living homes, the biggest of which is that they provide a stepping stone between the end of treatment and your long-term recovery and independence.

Many sober living facilities integrate the 12-step model, requiring residents to attend peer support groups. With the best sober living home in Michigan, you will be allowed to remain as long as you want while covering your costs of living and working towards finding stable work and independent housing.

What Makes the Best Sober Living Home in Michigan?

You want to look out for several things when evaluating different sober living facilities. For example, you’ll want a facility that does not allow abusive language or violence. If you are a woman with children, you’ll want a facility that doesn’t allow adult males to live on-site. It should provide separate living spaces and bathrooms for different genders if it’s a mixed-gender, sober living home.

Facilities

The best Sober Living homes will have state-of-the-art facilities that are well-maintained. If you see a facility that is run down, it might be good to consider looking elsewhere.

You should look for:

  • Sleeping quarters are inside the building
  • Well maintained grounds
  • Clean interior
  • Adequate lighting
  • Working bathrooms and kitchens
  • No broken doors or windows

Similarly, good facilities will provide safety and privacy provisions. You will typically share a room with one or more people, but some facilities give you higher privacy at a higher cost where you can enjoy private rooms.

Rules

A reputable sober living home will also require you to abide by certain rules. Some of these rules include the following:

  • Regular drug testing or abstinence testing
  • Curfews
  • Inspections
  • No drugs or alcohol on site, nor can you come back high or intoxicated
  • Attendance in Twelve Step or other support group therapy sessions

Each facility will differ slightly in terms of the rules they enforce, but a reputable facility will have these rules for your benefit.

Good facilities will provide a written policy of the disciplinary process in case you test positive for drugs or alcohol. They will enforce adherence to medication as prescribed by a therapist or doctor and conduct any regular drug screening in a fair and dignified fashion, overseen by professionals. 

Benefits of Sober Living Homes

Studies have found there are several benefits of Sober Living homes, including the following:

Length of Stay

Clients are allowed to stay at a facility once they receive admittance for as long as they want as long as they abide by the rules. There are no arbitrary discharge dates or forced evictions in order to free up space like there are with halfway houses.

This means individuals can decide when they are ready for higher levels of independence and aren’t constrained by time limitations.

Cost

Compared to halfway houses, Sober Living homes are a bit more affordable. They are particularly valuable in communities where individuals can’t access things like ongoing residential treatment but want to continue with outpatient care.

Liberty House’s Aftercare Program

With Liberty House, we work hard to provide comprehensive residential treatment. A big part of that treatment is to prepare you for what comes after leaving our facility.

In order to achieve these preparations, we offer aftercare planning as part of your program. Clients benefit from aftercare planning because it provides support and services for recovery. It helps clients understand things like:

  • How to resume a regular life
  • What support might be needed after treatment
  • How to manage an addiction

This aftercare support involves finding sober living facilities for some of our clients. There are several benefits of Sober Living homes, but the biggest is that it provides a safe place for you to continue in your recovery supported by a sober living environment.