17 Aug Ontario Treatment: How To Create A Successful Treatment Plan For Alcohol
Do I Have A Problem With Alcohol?
The chances are if you’re asking yourself this question, you may already know that you potentially have a problem with alcohol. To determine whether or not alcohol is affecting your life in detrimental ways, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you binge-drink, and drink more than intended?
- Have you ever tried to unsuccessfully quit alcohol?
- Do you miss obligations such as work, school, or appointments due to alcohol or hangovers?
- Does your drinking put you in dangerous situations?
- When you go without alcohol do you experience physical withdrawal symptoms?
If you answered yes to any one of these, you most likely are suffering from an addiction to alcohol. The good news is that you’re not alone. Millions of North Americans suffer from alcohol addiction, and millions have successfully quit by using treatment plans which are designed to ensure recovery.
Why Does One Need A Treatment Plan For Alcohol?
With alcohol’s ready availability in stores and social acceptance and pressures of drinking – having a recovery plan for alcohol treatment is absolutely essential to prevent relapse. While street drugs can be easily avoided, alcohol is unfortunately everywhere and takes strength to stand up against once you’ve overcome the addiction.
Having a recovery plan in place can prevent relapse in social situations, in isolation, or in everyday life by succumbing to alcohol. Often times alcohol is used as a crutch when the person lacks the coping mechanisms which may not have been properly formed or learned in early adulthood or formative years. For instance, somebody who suffers from anxiety in social situations may turn to alcohol to help them cope with those feelings of discomfort.
What Does An Ontario Treatment Plan For Alcohol Entail?
An Ontario treatment plan is put into place to ensure that relapse does not occur after the time is spent in a treatment or recovery center. It oftentimes takes a lifestyle change, counseling, creating support systems, and learning new patterns of thinking to successfully stick to an effective treatment plan. Here are some of the ideal techniques put in place for Ontario treatment plans.
Therapy and/or counseling
An addiction to alcohol stems from an underlying problem, often a lack of coping mechanisms, depression/anxiety, or inability to properly handle stressors. To overcome and handle the addiction to alcohol, one must be prepared to do the work necessary to learn about their triggers and how to handle these in healthy ways to avoid relapse. During therapy sessions, you and a counselor will assess the unhealthy ways in which drinking affected your life, the reasons you turned to alcohol, and then start to reframe the dangerous thought patterns that may have contributed to the alcoholism. Slowly you’ll begin to learn new thought processes, new coping mechanisms, and new ways to overcome the psychological aspects of alcohol addiction.
Alternate activities to drinking
Once you quit drinking, you’ll need to learn how to recreate your life. This includes taking an assessment of the activities you once participated in and analyzing how drinking related to those activities. Perhaps you spent all of your time in the pool hall and accompanied this with alcohol. Or maybe a lot of your time was spent in bars, nightclubs, with friends, outdoor camping trips – all with a drink in hand. Initially, these activities will be very difficult to participate in without alcohol – especially in situations like bars where drinking is encouraged. Part of a recovery plan is to discover new activities to replace the old habits entirely, and to find activities you enjoy participating in where alcohol use isn’t prevalent and is actively discouraged.
While in active recovery, many people find physical activity to be helpful in treatment plans. Physical activities such as going to the gym, going for runs or hikes, or participating in sports are all in locations where alcohol won’t be found and allows to focus on both mental and physical health while providing a healthy outlet for any extra pent-up energy.
Learning how to ask for help
Part of alcoholism stems from insecurity, self-doubt, and the inability to ask for help when you need help. It’s important to remember that the people around you have offered their support because they do care about your wellbeing. It may take time to learn how to ask for the help you need, and this is something that can be worked through with a counselor/therapist. Oftentimes we feel as though we are not worthy of help or caring. This is the story that we tell ourselves and this negative self-talk perpetuates the addiction, and instead of reaching out for help, we turn to alcohol as a crutch. Learning to ask for help from those who love you is life-changing in a recovery plan.
How To Stick To A Recovery Plan
Learning how to stick to a recovery plan can be tricky because it takes a delicate balance. The goal is to remain in active recovery by following the support system you’ve predetermined, ideally with a counselor/therapist, but to also pay attention to the parts of yourself that identify as more than just an alcoholic, or an addict.
Part of sticking to a recovery plan is to lean on the people around you who have offered their support, be that a shoulder to cry on, somebody to listen, or somebody who has offered to spend sober time with you. When coming out of treatment with a plan, it’s important to remember to balance your time and activities to avoid ‘recovery burnout’.
What Is A Recovery Burnout?
After leaving a treatment center fresh with the recovery plan, it isn’t uncommon for addicts and alcoholics to suffer from a ‘recovery burnout’. This occurs when the addict is entirely focused on their recovery and begins to take on the world (new diet, exercise, meditation, yoga, AA meetings etc., all at once) and becomes overwhelmed with the amount of commitment they have now to these new activities. This becomes a form of avoidance, overburdens them with responsibilities they feel they have to live up to, and creates an ultimately stressful situation that becomes so overwhelming that a majority of people suffer a relapse after this ‘recovery burnout’. When they miss one step of their daily routine, or ‘don’t feel like’ meditation that day etc., this feeling can lead to guilt, which may spiral into negative self-talk and create a situation for relapse.
To make sure you don’t suffer from recovery burnout, be sure to take the time to focus on areas of your life that don’t have to do with constant active recovery. Give yourself a break from thinking about treatment and recovery, and allow yourself to just be. Spend time with friends and family, and focus on conversation topics that don’t constantly revolve around recovery.
Interventions and Treatment Plans In Ontario
If you’ve read through this blog post and have concerns about somebody close to you who is struggling with an addiction to alcohol in Ontario, you may want to consider an intervention. Oftentimes the alcoholic is unable to reflect inwardly to see the severity of their addiction, and it becomes necessary to intervene in their dangerous behaviour. Luckily the combination of interventions, detox, treatment centers, counseling/therapy services and successful recovery plans in Ontario work, and the individual does not have to suffer from alcoholism forever.
Our team at Andy Bhatti has been successfully hosting interventions and treatment in Ontario for years. We work alongside you to create successful treatment plans to ensure recovery from alcohol addiction. Contact our team today to find out how we can help you get your life back.
1-888-960-3209