Ready to start your road to recovery from drug and alcohol addiction?
Drug and alcohol treatment can vary based on what type of level of care is needed. This will give a general breakdown of the various types. Some of the ones we will discuss are: Medical Detox, Residential Treatment, Intensive Outpatient and Outpatient services.
Medical Detox
This type of treatment is considered the highest level of care. It provides medical monitoring by a physician for the client 24 hours per day.
Length of stay is dependent on many different variables such as substances used, tolerance level, addiction severity and health issues. An average stay is up to a week.
Residential Treatment
Once medically cleared from the detox, many times clients continue their recovery in a residential treatment program. As the name implies, the client will live at the program. These programs vary in length as well.
Many are 28-30 days but others can last up to 6-18 months. These programs provide individual and family counseling, 12 step meetings and group therapy.
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
These programs are outpatient in which the client resides at home and attends the program typically between 3-5 days per week during the day. The programs generally include individual and group therapy.
Outpatient Therapy
Once a client has completed residential treatment or IOP part of their discharge plan is continued counseling in an outpatient setting. This therapy will occur in a counselor’s office.
These sessions are held individually with a counselor to help the client learn and implement coping skills in their life to maintain sobriety.
Still Not Sure What Level of Treatment You Need?
If you are still unsure what level of drug & alcohol treatment is most appropriate for you, talk to an expert. Schedule your Free Consultation so we can discuss this and see what is the best avenue for you.
To find out more info about Cindy Athey, alcohol & drug abuse therapist in Clearwater, check out the About Me page or click here to go to my LinkedIn Profile page
Recovery is possible when you use the tools like the HALT acronym.
The 12 step groups have wonderful acronyms and short sayings to help you along in your recovery. You may be aware of the important HALT acronym but I get this question a lot in from clients so I felt I would explain it for folks who are not involved in 12 step groups as it is very helpful to your recovery.
The H.A.L.T. acronym is especially important to any successful recovery from substance abuse or any mental health disorder like anxiety, depression or eating disorders. It stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired.
The premise is if you are any of these states you are increasing your risk of relapse or coping with these states in an unhealthy way. The remedy to strengthen your recovery is not to be in these states.
Let’s break these down
Ask yourself these questions to help identify any problems in your recovery
Hungry
Ever been so busy running around & slipped with nourishing your body with healthy foods? Yes, we all have, and it is hard to cope with stress when we have not been adding the right type of “fuel” to our machine. A major part of recovery has to do with the brain, so it is especially important to eat healthy foods on a regular basis.
Tip: Focus on eating regularly throughout the day and mostly healthy foods. Make sure you are drinking enough water.
Angry
We all get angry from time to time. However, many times people respond in anger quickly and do not stop and think when they experience it. This can increase the risk of relapse. You ask how?
Let’s look at this scenario. You get angry with your boss, get home from work and say “What a day! I need a drink”. Yep, it can happen that easily.
Tip: Stop and think when you become angry. Lots of times anger is due to something else. By stopping and thinking you can identify what is the underlying thing that is really making you mad. The example above could be that the person doesn’t like their job because they are not being treated with respect or it isn’t what they really want to be doing.
Lonely
Loneliness is a feeling that is not fun. Lots of time when people enter recovery, they feel lonely. All their “friends” are typically unhealthy. There is a lack of boundaries and once a person starts setting boundaries, they lose those connections.
People don’t like to be alone but can learn that’s it is healthy sometimes to be by yourself. You can work on you during those down times.
Tip: Embrace the alone time and focus on self care. Focus on learning more about yourself and how to make healthy supportive friendships.
Tired
When people are struggling in their recovery from drugs and alcohol or with other issues, they typically are not sleeping well. Insomnia can be an issue. When you become over tired, it is really hard to cope with stress in a healthy way.
Tip: Examine your sleep routine. Try some yoga or meditation before bedtime. Listen to a guided meditation to help you fall asleep.
If you find that you are struggling in your recovery and need some help creating a plan to get it back on track and avoid the states of HALT, click the link now to book your free 15 min recovery strategy call.
Drinking or alcohol use has risen during the pandemic and so have issues with it. One question I am asked quite frequently is to help people figure out if they have an alcohol problem. I decided to write about how you can decide for yourself if alcohol has become a problem in your life.
There is no shame in determining if this is a problem so just let that feeling go and sit by yourself and look at this.
It’s so important to let go of denial and really look at your life.
Also important side note before we go deeper in this topic: these are general indicators suggesting that you may have an issue with alcohol & not an alcohol use disorder diagnosis. There’s generally more involved in officially assessing a person for a substance use disorder. So speak to a professional or medical provider about this.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
1) How much & how often am I drinking?
If you are drinking daily that’s a problem and I’m including “Mommy Wine Time” in this.
Here is why I say that. We are creatures of habit. Just think about it. I typically always buy certain brands of food, toothpaste, jeans, etc… I pretty much stick to the same schedule each day (getting up at the same time & going to bed around the same time). If I start drinking daily, at some point it will become a habit or my stress management go-to.
For me, one drink will equal more like too many so I don’t drink. I’ve figured this out. If that’s you and you find more times than not the 1-2 recommended drinks turn into way more or maybe a bottle of wine, it’s a problem.
2) Do you have times when you can’t remember what has happened when you have been drinking?
When a person can still talk, walk or stagger and not remember what they did or what they said to others, this is a blackout. The BAC (blood alcohol concentration) increased too quickly and the brain basically shuts down to just managing essential body functions. Research has shown that short term memories are not being made. I think that is really scary in its own right.
3) Has your drinking caused problems in your relationships, finances, work or daily life?
Are other people in your life asking you to cut down on your drinking? This is a clear-cut sign that alcohol has become an issue. If you call off to work more than you go or perhaps when you are there you feel sick from being hungover, that is a clear sign as well that alcohol is a problem in your life. If your finances are all over the place and you are missing money after a night out, well you know the answer. Alcohol is a problem
4) Are there substance abuse issues in your family history?
Look at your parents, grandparents, siblings and cousins and see if there is a substance abuse history there. If there is, that increases your risk of having a substance abuse issue in your life.
5) Do you feel shame, embarrassment, anxiety or depression after you have been drinking?
Here’s the thing, if you feel these feelings chances are you already know it’s a problem in your life. Alcohol is a depressant so it’s very nature will make you feel more depressed. However, shame tells the tale and no one likes to feel that.
6) Is drinking working for you?
An important thing to finally look at is how is alcohol working for you in your life. If it’s causing issues, it’s not working. Just looking at it to see if it’s worth the hassle is recommended.
Alcohol does not relieve anxiety and stress. Yes, it feels relaxing initially but at some point you go over that “I drank too much” cliff and then it actually increases anxiety and stress.
Decided You May Need Some Help With This?
If you notice after looking at these questions that you may have difficulties with drinking, treatment is helpful. There are different types of treatment such as inpatient, outpatient, individual and group therapy. The good news is that treatment is not uniform and it is tailored specifically to your situation. Essentially not everyone needs rehab.
Most important is to remember an alcohol problem is not a personal failing in you. It is indicative of a deeper problem that needs worked on.
Those types of issues could be low self-esteem, previous trauma, codependency, anger and the list can go on. It’s always best to talk with a professional to figure that out. They will be able to help you come up with a treatment plan that will work for you.
Also if you drink daily and a great quantity, talk to your medical professional prior to stopping. Unfortunately at some point alcohol abuse becomes a chronic physical health issue. Your medical provider will be able to assess where you are at with that.
If you need assistance figuring out the next step schedule your free 15 minute recovery strategy call. The call will help you determine your next step in your recovery journey.
Click this link & you will be taken to the book a session page
