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.
