How Do I Stay Sober After Rehab?

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It can be a daunting prospect to return to your own environment after staying at one of Rehab Clinics Group’s residential centres. This can be because your old triggers and lifestyle will return, and you will not have the constant around-the-clock support that you had at rehab.

However, our rehab centres aim to teach you coping techniques during your time with us. You will learn relapse prevention techniques as well as receive one year of free aftercare, so your support doesn’t end once you have left our centre. Find out more about coping techniques to stay sober after rehab here.

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Once your addiction treatment programme has finished, your journey isn’t over. Addiction is something you may have to battle for life, so many people wonder ‘how do I stay sober after rehab?’ While you stay at one of our clinics, you’re in a structured environment where it’s very difficult to physically obtain drugs or alcohol, but you may be worried about what happens once you get home.

Once you leave rehab, you’ll be back in your hometown where you may be around bad influences such as friends who use drugs or alcohol. It can also be stressful to return to everyday activities such as work and family life, which can make you crave the escape that your drug or alcohol addiction might have brought you in the past.

During your stay in one of the Rehab Clinics Group’s centres, we’ll spend a lot of time preparing you for the day you return home. Our aim is to give you the tools you need to fight temptation and take care of your mental health, helping you stay sober for life.

 

Finding Your Addiction Triggers

While you undergo addiction therapy, we’ll spend time talking about your addiction triggers, the people, places or emotions that are likely to make you want to relapse. In everyday life after rehab, it’s not always possible to completely avoid these triggers, which is why we want to teach you coping strategies when these things come up.

Your addiction triggers might include:

  • Spending time with old friends – especially if they are heavy drinkers or regularly use drugs
  • Spending time in a certain place or area
  • Going to places where alcohol or drugs are easy to obtain, for example pubs, clubs or even supermarkets
  • Feeling certain emotions – if you used to celebrate or commiserate with drink or drug abuse, then you may associate your addiction with certain feelings

Techniques to Maintain Sobriety

Because there are so many potential triggers for addictions, you may be wondering ‘how do I stay sober after rehab?’ There are a number of techniques you can use to avoid relapsing, which we’ll go through in depth during your therapy, but some general things that people with addictions have said help them maintain sobriety include:

  • Removing anything to do with drugs or alcohol from your house – for example, if you have an alcohol addiction, throw away items like bottle openers and corkscrews
  • Associate with people who’ll help your journey – build a support group of friends and family members who support your recovery. Avoid people who try to tempt you with drugs or alcohol, or talk negatively about your journey
  • Set yourself some goals – our counsellors will help you come up with goals for when you leave the rehab centre, and you should regularly look through them and think of ways to get closer to your goal
  • Find some new activities – many people who abuse drugs or alcohol waste a lot of time on these things, so once you’re living a sober life, it can feel like you have a lot of free time. Fill it with positive activities such as exercise, meditation, walking, gardening or anything that makes you happy
  • Complete your aftercare programme – when you are getting towards the end of your programme, you’ll work out an aftercare plan with your therapist. Be sure to stick with it, as completing aftercare makes you much more likely to stay sober
  • Talk to other people in recovery – in addition to aftercare sessions, you may want to seek out some local support groups such as Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous who can help you in the long term
  • Stay out of pubs and clubs – when you’re in drug or alcohol rehab, it’s natural to miss your old friends, but don’t be tempted to go on nights out in the early stages of your recovery. Even if you’re only planning on having non-alcoholic drinks, places such as bars and nightclubs are full of temptation, and you may feel pressure to have ‘just one drink’ which can severely impact your chances of long-term recovery

 

Getting The Right Advice

When you stay at one of the Rehab Clinics Group’s rehab facilities, you’ll get plenty of time to talk about strategies to overcome your substance abuse. We work with guidelines from leading bodies such as the National Institute on Drug Abuse to ensure world-class therapy is delivered, giving you the best chance of long-term sobriety.

During your stay you’ll undergo both individual and group therapy which will help you work out some great strategies to stay sober. You’ll build a solid support system and have all the help you need for long-term success. It’s often said that getting sober is the easy part, it’s staying sober that’s the challenge, and with that in mind we offer workshops on relapse awareness, so you can spot the potential signs, and give you all the tools you need for success. As long as you have the enthusiasm and drive to complete our programme in full, including aftercare, there’s an excellent chance that you’ll stay away from drugs and alcohol for life.

If you are looking for help with a drug or alcohol problem, contact Rehab Clinics Group today to find out about our clinics in the UK and Spain. Call us on 03301 596 494 or text HELP to 83222 to find out more.

Laura Smart - Author - Last updated: July 7, 2023

Laura is a qualified counsellor and behavioural therapist specialising in CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy), REBT (Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy), ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy), ICT (Inner Child Therapy), MI (Motivational Interviewing), Hypnosis and Mindfulness practice. She has experience working with individuals suffering from conditions such as problem behaviours, internet and social media addictions, depression, anxiety, anger management and trauma.