Life Skills for Addiction Recovery
Achieving sobriety is the primary first step in an individual’s addiction recovery. Maintaining that sobriety equity requires a lifelong effort that often entails the development of certain essential life skills.
At The Shores Treatment and Recovery, a critical part of a person’s rehabilitation, both during and after their stay with us, is learning what skills are needed for recovery and developing those skills with confidence. Below are just a few of the most important life skills that one needs to learn and practice for a successful recovery and a healthy, rewarding life.
Positive Coping Mechanisms
Many addicts have developed mechanisms for dealing with stress that sends them back to their drug and alcohol abuse. Whether the difficulties encountered are financial, interpersonal, health-related, or something as simple as a bad day at work, lacking the appropriate coping skills for dealing with everyday stressors can be a major cause of relapse.
The Shores Treatment and Recovery helps clients develop the healthy coping mechanisms that are important for recovering addicts to possess. Our clients learn techniques for individual stress relief and develop methods for creating a network of supportive relationships that can be counted on in times of need.
Independent Living Skills
Becoming self-sufficient is extremely challenging for a recovering addict who has, in many cases, never had experience managing the aspects of his or her daily life. The life skills training process puts an emphasis on helping addicts establish stability, teaching them to develop daily schedules and routines, to maintain a healthy diet and to practice personal hygiene.
Our treatment program also teaches clients the necessary skills for managing personal finances, balancing checkbooks, and going on job interviews. Securing employment and establishing financial independence is a critical goal we work on with all our clients.
Emotional Balance and Self Control
Life inevitably will bring some frustration, sadness or disappointment, which are normal feelings within the range of emotions that everyone experiences. Addicts, however, are often less successful at controlling their reactions to such feelings. An inability to regulate emotions in a healthy manner leads many addicts to turn back to alcohol and drugs to achieve some form of control. That’s why we teach our clients how to regulate their emotions without falling back into abusing substances.
We may use various brain therapies like EMDR to help recovering addicts with anger and stress management. Group and individual therapy sessions, as well as other treatment methods, are also important factors in helping our clients develop the emotional maturity necessary for a satisfying, well-adjusted life.
Normal Social Interactions
Many in recovery have troubled or dysfunctional social networks that only worsen their tendencies towards substance abuse. Maintaining one’s sobriety requires that the recovering person be able to establish and keep healthy social relationships, both with other members of the recovery community and with friends or family members.
Individuals receiving care at The Shores Treatment and Recovery learn how to identify social connections that they can count on for support. They also learn how to recognize social cues and situations that can act as triggers for relapse. Through our processes, clients can build a supportive social network based on honesty and trust.
