Most folks are familiar with the broad strokes of recovery and treatment. The detox, inpatient care and outpatient care. What about after that though?

What happens once you’ve finished your stay at an inpatient facility or completed the outpatient program? Do you just go right back to your day to day and hope for the best?

That’s one way to go but it’s not one that necessarily sets you up for the best chance at making your recovery a lasting one, which is where support groups come in.

Having a place to go where you’re in the company of people who genuinely understand what you’ve gone through and can lend support in ways that those who haven’t might not be able to muster. The benefits are vast, running the gamut from being a place where you can create friendships with other sober-minded people to having another layer of accountability which is always nice.

Stick with a support group long enough and you may even find yourself guiding and mentoring newly sober people. This benefits your own recovery tremendously and also lets you look back at just how far you’ve come.

Here are the 4 big substance abuse support groups to know:

Alcoholics Anonymous

Certainly the most well known of all the support groups, Alcoholics Anonymous has been around since way back in 1935 in Akron, Ohio. To put it in the simplest terms we can go straight to the source, it’s “an international fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem.”

AA is also the group that started the now-iconic 12 step programs and “The Big Book” is listed on Time Magazine’s 100 best and most influential non-fiction books list.

The one caveat with this program is that the 12 steps stress the importance of religion and God which can be a turn-off for some. Don’t’ fret though, keep reading for more options!

Narcotics Anonymous

Off the heels of the success Alcoholics Anonymous had with helping alcoholics, Narcotics Anonymous followed along and created 12 steps programs dedicated to drug abuse rather than alcohol.

It’s worth noting that meetings for both NA and AA are free of charge and the only “cost” is an optional donation that goes towards covering things like the room rental, coffee, snacks, etc. 

SMART Recovery

Like AA, SMART Recovery also has an Ohio connection being headquartered there but was created more recently in 1994. The big difference between this group and AA/NA is that there is no spiritual component, so it removes that perceived barrier for people. They note that their “groups are free and open to anyone seeking science-based, self-empowered addiction recovery”.

SMART, as you may have guessed already is an acronym that stands for, “Self-Management and Recovery Training”.

Pulling from their literature, SMART Recovery’s approach to behavioral change is built around our 4-Point Program®:

1. Building and maintaining the motivation to change.
2. Coping with urges to use.
3. Managing thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in an effective way without addictive behaviors.
4. Living a balanced, positive, and healthy life.

Refuge Recovery

Another relatively new entrant which also takes a markedly different approach to recovery and support groups, Refuge Recovery is built on the foundation of Buddhist principles. Whereas AA/NA focus on 12 steps and SMART Recovery is a 4-point program, Refuge created an eightfold path to recovery which looks like this:

1. Understanding
2. Intention
3. Communication/Community
4. Action
5. Livelihood/Service
6. Effort
7. Mindfulness/Meditations
8. Concentration/Meditations

Reach Out to Us Today

The wonderful thing about having options that are so diverse in their methodology, tactics and inspiration is that there truly is a group that suits your specific wants and needs. If you’re having trouble landing on the one that works best for you, give us a buzz at Lake Arrowhead Recovery Network and we can do a deep dive on each with you.

While the road to sobriety is a difficult one, finding lasting recovery can end up being the most rewarding journey you take in life. Addiction is an affliction that affects far too many people, a Surgeon General’s report noted that “nearly 21 million Americans – more than the number of people who have all cancers combined – suffer from substance use disorders.”

Perhaps equally devastating is the fact that of those 21 million people, only about 10% are getting treatment.

That’s a problem. 90% of folks grappling with addiction, for whatever reason, aren’t getting the treatment they need. That’s not for a lack of options though. Rehab comes in various forms to accommodate people from all walks of life.

Defining Rehab

In a broad sense, rehab is a program that pulls together various therapies and treatment modalities with the aim of breaking the cycle of addiction and giving you the tools to navigate life without resorting to substances.

The dictionary, always a great place to go for definition, puts rehabilitation this way, “restoration especially by therapeutic means to an improved condition of physical function…also the process of restoring a person to a drug- or alcohol-free state”.

How Does Rehab Help with Addiction?

Rehab helps those struggling with addiction in several crucial ways:

Safe Place – A rehab facility creates a safe environment for recovery. Getting clean in the place you are can feel like an insurmountable mountain, by removing yourself from those surroundings and being a place dedicated to sobriety, you give yourself a better shot.

Counseling – This is where the magic happens so to speak and is the foundational part of rehab. Both individual and group counseling are hallmarks of rehab and work to uncover the deeper levels of your substance abuse.

Foundation – Speaking of “foundational part”, the very idea of rehab is to set you up with tools that allow you to overcome difficulties that may have led you to substances in the past. In that sense, rehab helps create a foundation on which to build out the rest of your life.

Connection – Group therapy is part of this but so too are things like the various 12-step programs that you may be introduced to in rehab. Creating connections and friendships with others that have dedicated themselves to sobriety creates accountability because going back to an environment where you’re surrounded by substance users can be tough.

Different Types of Rehab Facilities

The main types of rehab facilities breakdown as follows:

Detox – The first part of most rehab journeys is detox. This will likely be the toughest part of getting clean to endure as you’ll have to face withdrawal symptoms. Doing this in a place where it’s supervised by those who understand what you’re going through, however, helps to alleviate some of that hardship.

Residential Inpatient – This is sort of what it sounds like, in inpatient care you live in a treatment center. It’s the most intensive type of rehab as it puts your recovery in full focus. It’s all you work on and is without outside distractions. In addition to the counseling and group work that are staples, different facilities will offer additional treatment options like various alternative therapies.

Outpatient – Similar to inpatient in terms of the focus on counseling and group work, with outpatient care you’re free to come and go as you please. You can go to work and school as usual but have scheduled times for care.

Aftercare/Sober Living – After completing your main rehab work, aftercare and sober living are fantastic as transition steps back into your normal day to day. Some people may just find it tough to go straight back and a sober living home provides a clean, safe and regulated environment in which you’re surrounded by others working towards the same goal. Some homes require participation in 12-step programs or the like to ensure progress continues.

Let Lake Arrowhead Recovery Help You Today! 

There really are plenty of different types of rehab facilities out and as you start looking into them individually, you’ll see that they cater to all types of people. Some are more into alternative therapies while others stick more closely to the traditional approaches, if you’re finding it difficult to navigate the abundance of choice, reach out to us at Lake Arrowhead Recovery and we’ll help you find the rehab that’s right for you.

Great questions.

If your drinking has taken way too much control of your life, become a problem that you’re looking to solve or have even been confronted directly by friends and family that it’s an issue, you’ve likely come across Alcoholics Anonymous already.

Drinking is absolutely something that’s addictive and prolonged use leads to a dependency that can be hard to shake on your own. If you’ve been contemplating quitting but just don’t know where to start, AA is an excellent place to start.

Alcoholics Anonymous is where the concept of the 12-step program started back in 1935 and it’s been a stunningly effective resource for those who struggle to quit and stay off the drink. In addition to the steps, it’s a program based on discussion-based meetings and the group/peer support that comes with them. Importantly, those get-togethers are free to attend with the only ask being a donation, if possible, to cover expenses for the meeting, things like refreshments, room rental, etc.

Fast forward to today and you can find AA meetings in almost every country (even on cruise ships). Here at home, consider that 14.4 adults have an alcohol use disorder of which not even 8% receive treatment, having access to free resources like AA is, therefore, a lifesaver for some.

Whether the program is for you is, naturally, up to you but they do have a handy 12 question survey that can point you in the right direction.

Defining Alcoholics Anonymous

In case the above wasn’t clear, here’s how AA describe AA:

 “Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women who have had a drinking problem. It is nonprofessional, self-supporting, multiracial, apolitical, and available almost everywhere. There are no age or education requirements. Membership is open to anyone who wants to do something about his or her drinking problem.”

It’s broad, available to all and decentralized by design.

You might be wondering what the steps are, well, wonder no more:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

You might be wondering after reading the steps if you need to be religious for AA? Nope, while it does have religious connotations, a 1990 study notes that “to superficially dismiss AA as a potentially effective addiction recovery support option on the grounds that it is “religious” and therefore unscientific, is inconsistent with the body of rigorous research accumulated during the past 25 years”.

For their part, Alcoholics Anonymous calls their steps “spiritual in nature”. Ultimately, if it’s a potential issue for you, consider swapping in the words “Higher Power” for “God” and defining that how you’d like.

Who Needs to Go to AA?

Getting involved with Alcoholics Anonymous can be just the thing to not only get out sober but keep you sober however the choice is in your hands. If drinking has been a problem that you haven’t managed to get under control on your own, a low pressure, community-based program like AA can work wonders for you. Give us a call at Lake Arrowhead Recovery Network and we can walk you through the ins and outs more thoroughly and help find you a meeting in your area.

All recovery and treatment centers have plenty of tools at their disposal, it’s the nature of the work. In fact, it’s really because of those varied treatment methods that rehabs are able to achieve the life-changing results they do. The beauty of having a great many options is that it makes it possible for treatment centers to create a highly tailored strategy for each individual suffering through substance abuse addiction that comes through their doors.

Some people just respond better to particular methods of treatment and the key is creating a combination of options and a plan of attack to tackle the underlying issues from all sides. A broad and multifaceted approach that strives to work wonders.

Lake Arrowhead Recovery Network knows depending on the person, group therapy for substance abuse can be a powerful and revelatory part of the process.

What Is Addiction Group Therapy?

The definition is right in the name, group therapy is the idea of getting people together, under the guidance of a trained professional, to try and work through the similar issues they’re all facing, together. By sharing details of their experience in a safe and protected environment and listening to others tell comparable stories, participants end up coming out with a better understanding of themselves.

They get a deeper and more nuanced understanding of their own substance abuse by way of others.

Benefits of Group Therapy for Substance Abuse

The potential upside with group therapy is massive. Just the simple act of sharing things with people outside of your one on one counseling sessions, getting it off your chest to more than an audience of one, pays dividends.

Nothing can replicate the strong community-building aspect that comes from being able to analyze experiences with people that can truly relate.

Often substance abuse becomes an isolating part of one’s life. Relationships and bridges get burned in the process and people fade by the wayside. Getting that next fix is the only goal. In group therapy, you’re with people that have lived through those same situations and have had those feelings of isolation consume them. As conversations evolve, that sense of being alone you’ve felt begins to fade away in the comfort and company of others.

Meanwhile, having those tough talks lead to the formation of strong bonds, the building blocks of meaningful relationships. The people you meet in group therapy could very well become part of your sober network once you leave rehab.

Seeing others succeed and progress in their own recovery journey brings with it its own positive energy. Their success inspires you to strive harder for your own with group therapy becoming a potent motivator.

Additionally, the continuous positive feedback and support from your peers and therapists are game changers.

 

On top of all of that, you’re learning healthy ways to cope with the trigger’s life inevitably will throw your way.

Being equipped with that type of concrete and actionable knowledge as well as a solid foundation of support means that group therapy can help with your self-confidence and self-worth. The encouragement functions to balloon your optimism.

The litany of benefits to group therapy far outweighs any type of trepidation you might have in getting involved.

Where to Find Group Therapy for Drug Addiction

If group therapy sounds like just the ticket for you or a family member or friend in need but you aren’t sure where to start your search for finding the perfect fit, don’t worry. Lake Arrowhead Recovery Network in southern California can help you sift through what can feel like an overwhelming amount of options and get you into a facility that suits you best. Get in touch with one of our advisors today to learn more.

Addiction treatment isn’t necessarily a rigid framework. Sure, some big-ticket, broad boxes need to be checked in any treatment program, like getting through detox, for example. Inpatient, outpatient, behavioral, etc. treatment are standards as well. Inside those large silos is a lot of wiggle room though because the treatment process is always suited to individual needs.

That means a lot of rehab facilities are starting to embrace holistic addiction treatment therapies. These don’t replace the traditional, time-honored approaches to addiction but work as add-ons or compliments that often work to improve the results. The reason being is that they break things down to an even more thoroughly personal experience. Treatment centers often use the word “holistic”, when they offer alternative therapies, it’s a good sign they mean it. At Lake Arrowhead Recovery Network’s drug addition center in California, we’d like to share with you more information regarding holistic addiction treatment. 

Types of Holistic Addiction Treatment

 

Yoga & Mindfulness

It’s become increasingly common to see some type of mindfulness training, most often yoga, being added to holistic treatment for drug addiction and it’s quite clear to see why. Yoga forces a patient to focus their mind on their breathing and their bodies. It’s very deliberate in the way it commands your attention.

According to the American Holistic Health Association it can “contribute to a greater sense of control in more acute states when experiencing cravings, insomnia, and agitation”. Connecting your body and mind, in other words, creates a stronger sense of self-discipline and can reduce stress in moments when triggered.

 

Art Therapy

Let’s quickly address the elephant in the room, you don’t have to be a good artist or even an artist at all to get the substantial benefits of art therapy. This type of holistic addiction treatment is really meant to promote and celebrate self-expression. It focuses the mind on the process of creation and the emotions associated with it.

 

Biofeedback

This has a more futuristic feel to it. During a biofeedback session, electrical sensors are attached to a patient to measure various processes in the body. There are many methods, some of the more familiar measures; brain waves (EEG), heart rate (ECG) and muscle contraction (EMG).

The idea is that there are certain, involuntary functions that a person can gain control of through the use of biofeedback therapy. It can help you with things like; anxiety, blood pressure, headaches, swearing and more related to your addiction.

 

Acupuncture 

Your mind may have gone straight to acupuncture when you read the headline. It’s understandable. Acupuncture is possibly the most visible and certainly the most eye-catching of the alternative therapies out there. You see it offered in spas and on cruise ships these days.

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese practice and involves inserting thin needles into strategic points on the body, the goal of the procedure is to balance the flow of energy or chi.  Addiction throws the energy of your body totally out of whack and this is a chemical-free way to encourage a realignment of sorts. Acupuncture has also anecdotally been linked to increases in dopamine which is a positive as that’s the chemical associated with pleasure.

 

Fine Holistic Addiction Treatment With Us

This is just a small sample of the many holistic treatments for drug addiction available. It’s a whole new facet of treatment and you’re well within your rights to feel a little overwhelmed by having so many choices. That said, you don’t need to do the research alone, at Lake Arrowhead Recovery Network’s California recovery center, a certified advisor, well versed in all these therapies and more who can walk you through each. Not just a surface, 30,000-foot view either, an in-depth discussion on what each one is and if it’s right for you or your loved one. Get in touch with us today to learn more.