Role Of Alumni Support
You’ll benefit from an alumni support program because treatment is going to be a lifelong process generally. Even after completing an addiction treatment program at We Level Up TX, we care for you. As you go back to normalcy and start your new life free from substance abuse, your lifelong journey is just getting started. Moreover, your recovery process has not ended just because your time in our center has.
While rehabilitation is typically short-term, addiction can continue to impact various areas of your life. That’s why programs will often offer alumni groups to individuals who have successfully completed treatment.
With these groups, alumni are able to stay connected to the rehab center and gain the support and encouragement they need to continue on the road to recovery.
Addiction treatment is your road to recovery, during which you will sometimes feel vulnerable and anxious. Additionally, we are always ready here for you if trying times may come your way, even if you have graduated already in our facility.
A quality treatment center knows that there will be certain times that you’ll feel fragile once you got out of rehab. Several factors may tempt you to go back to the old ways with substances as early recovery is full of risk of relapse.
Alumni groups can serve an important role in helping you achieve success in your personal recovery journey. Joining an alumni community can be beneficial for the following reasons:
- Serve as a transition into regular life: After battling addiction and going through treatment, the transition back into regular life may feel like a rude awakening. An alumni recovery group can help smooth the transition by keeping you in contact with the rehab center and allowing you to participate in structured events and activities so you don’t feel alone throughout the process.
- Receive continued support: Many times, recovery groups allow you to stay in contact with not only the treatment center, but also the staff who helped you throughout your program.
- Learn from others: In your group, you can receive encouragement and advice from those who have successfully completed recovery programs. These individuals can share their knowledge and guidance, which you can apply to your own journey.
- Assist others: In your recovery group, you can inspire others to get help or continue their sobriety by offering words of encouragement and advice that you have found helpful.
- Practice relapse prevention and real-life skills: Following rehabilitation, alumni groups provide a safe space to practice the relapse prevention skills you have learned. These include everything from stress management to social skills to cognitive coping.
- Celebrate successes: Being part of a group allows you to celebrate each member’s successes in a positive, supportive community.
- Connect in person: Many groups will have volunteer opportunities or gatherings where members can meet up and connect in person.
- Form lifelong connections: As you learn from others and share your own story, you will form lifelong connections with people who understand your struggles and personal journey. Having alumni support like this is a key to preventing relapse.
These risks are dangerous triggers for relapse in those new to recovery. By being in an alumni program, you celebrate in healthy ways, engage with peers in recovery and get to know how others are dealing with the struggles of recovery.
- The stress of everyday life and unexpected stress
- People you used with and places connected to your substance abuse
- Negative emotions like guilt, doubt, anger, or fear
- Loneliness
- Celebrations and holidays
Alumni Support to Avoid Risks of Relapse
Early recovery is also a time with its own stress. This stress comes from your desire to avoid relapse. Some tips for avoiding the stress of your first months in sobriety include remembering that sobriety is not easy for anyone and that not everyone in your life will understand your sobriety. You should avoid people unsupportive of your recovery and keep a positive attitude because it always gets better. Asking for help means you are taking care of yourself. Complacency is dangerous.
To help clients overcome any resistance by encouraging their attendance with other group members or program alumni. And, leave the decision about joining a group to the clients. Programs also can invite support groups to hold open meetings on-site. Generally, these meetings allow clients to become familiar with the format of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Cocaine Anonymous (CA), or other groups. [1]
Benefits of Alumni Support
- Our alumni director and coordinators work to maintain a community of love and support for the people that go through our program at We Level Up treatment, and to have a safe place to turn to in the event of the calamity in their lives. The concept of one alcoholic helping another is at the backbone of our core values for when people leave this facility.
- Gaining friends in recovery and get to know how others are dealing with the struggles of recovery.
- You can use your alumni program to learn accountability while gaining and giving support among peers in recovery.
- You may enjoy healthy celebrations and enjoyment of life’s many offerings, drug and alcohol-free.
- Alumni programs typically provide helpful services like calls for follow-up, volunteer opportunities, 24-hour helplines, aftercare programs, and exclusive events.
- Alumni coordinators may encourage your participation in other supportive and social activities.
- The facility’s alumni connection services include ongoing education and support for continued success in recovery.
- You’ll have the opportunity to share your experiences with others and to support your peers in sobriety.
- It will not be limited to just your peers in recovery, it will also include friends and family.
- As a member of the alumni program, you will also be a part of someone else’s support network when they reach out to you. It can help strengthen your own sobriety by giving you opportunities to listen, understand, and support the people who need you the most. In this way, helping your peers is a way of extending your own recovery.
- You’ve made a commitment to your own sobriety, and by participating in our alumni program, you can promote your long-term recovery while helping others in need.
Most importantly, alumni support and aftercare are vital to your continued recovery success. Most people who had participated in a drug and alcohol addiction rehabilitation program and completed it relapsed within the first year because of the lack of support. That is why it is crucial to continue aftercare outpatient addiction treatment. The continuation of intensive high-quality programs after leaving residential treatment helps assure the likelihood of sobriety and continued recovery. All clients are eligible and receive after-care support and planning. We Level Up TX offers free alumni program & support. As we are committed to client success and invest in your recovery even after you leave.
Addiction Treatment
Like with any other chronic condition, maintaining addiction recovery requires consistent upkeep in the form of alumni support groups, check-ins with mental health professionals, and being honest with yourself and others when you need help. It also means changing the aspects of your life that could trigger a relapse. [2]
Seeking perfection, judgment from others, and feeling overwhelmed are just some of the things that can impede recovery. It’s important to remember that recovery is different for each individual, the experts say.
Substance abuse is a chronic disease, and treating it like one can help with treatment. For instance, addiction can be a lifelong battle, and like other lifelong conditions, it requires a commitment to treatment and maintaining good health.
Substance abuse can wreak havoc on relationships. Addiction can also make other mental health conditions worse while masking them. For instance, more than a quarter of those living with addiction also have a mental health condition that needs addressing.
However, treatment can mean getting to the core of these problems. A dual diagnosis can mean addressing mental health and substance use disorder at the same time.
Addiction treatment is not one-size-fits-all. Treatments may vary based on your needs. You can choose the treatment that works best for you based on the substance you’re abusing, the level of care you need including a long-term approach with alumni support, your personal mental health needs, or what health care options you can afford.
When you are in a substance abuse treatment program, you are introduced to the rehab’s alumni offerings. You may think you don’t need this support or socialization, at first. But once you return to your daily life at home, having the chance to strengthen your recovery with alumni activities is a supportive time you will cherish.
If you are struggling with drug or alcohol addiction or mental health the battle does not have to be yours to fight alone. We Level Up TX is here to help you grow through your recovery process.
Give us a call anytime, We are here to help you find the program that works for you.