The Right Addiction Recovery Resources for You

the right addiction recovery resource

Recovery isn’t, nor should it be, a path you walk alone. The isolation and detachment that drug and alcohol abuse eventually lead you to are not things that further solitude and seclusion can remedy. Recovery is a team sport in many ways though and having the right addiction recovery resources on your team makes for a recovery that’s both long-lasting and rewarding.

Now, “team” in this case doesn’t exclusively mean all the members are people. Books, for example, are wonderfully helpful resources and can be turned to you when you want some quiet, but still supportive, “you” time along the way.

What Are Addiction Recovery Resources?

Resources for recovering addicts run the gamut of interests, personality types, etc. No matter who you are, there are resources that can work well and complement your recovery journey nicely.

Support Groups

Let’s call these the classics. Support groups are where you go for, well, support!

They’re places where people who have gone through the same things as you come to build bonds and gain confidence in their newly sober lives. Not everyone will easily and readily understand or sympathize with what you’ve gone through as a recovering addict, support groups are filled with people who have had the same experiences as you with substance abuse and rehab. In other words, support groups are places where people actually understand you.

12 Step Programs

Naturally, you jump to the most well-known of these: Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous. AA was the first 12 step program after all so the recognition is well deserved. The beauty of being so well known is that you can find these groups the world over. The meetings are an integral part of the program and are free of charge (voluntary donations are encouraged though).

While there is an overarching religious tone to the 12 steps, you can find versions of the program that aren’t so heavy-handed, and more spiritual rather than religious, which may align better with your view. Either way, you don’t have to be religious to get the benefits of the program.

SMART Recovery

This is another group-based option that is fully science-based, with no religious or spiritual elements that are standard in AA. SMART is an acronym that stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training. Pretty smart and built around a 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

On the flip side of AA, perhaps the least well-known support group is Refuge Recovery which utilizes Buddhist principles and practices as the foundation from addiction recovery.

Books 

The great thing about the many who have found ways to recover is that some went ahead and wrote books about the myriad ways to do it. From memoirs to how-tos, books are rich addiction recovery resources.

The Big Book

This is the first major manual on recovering from alcoholism and was written by one of the founders of AA, Bill W. It’s become one of the best-selling books of all time and named Time Magazine’s most influential books in English since 1923. Impressive.

Drop the Rock

Related to the 12-step program and AA, Drop the Rock focuses on steps 6 and 7:

    • Step 6: We’re entirely ready to have God remove all our defects of character.

 

  • Step 7: Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.

 

The title, and book, are about learning to do away with defects of our character that can sink, or impede, recovery if you hold on to them.

Alumni Groups at Rehabs

If you attended rehab, alumni groups are a fantastic place to start in terms of resources. Not only will you be able to stay in contact with the counselors, therapists and staff at whatever rehab you went through, but alumni groups also allow you to connect with others that went through the same program. Invaluable friendships can be formed through these groups.

Let Us Help You at Above All Treatment Network

This has been just a tiny sampler, an appetizer, of the wealth of resources available to those in recovery. There’s so much more out there and resources to fit all types of people so if you’re struggling to find ones that work for you, get in touch with us at Above All Treatment Network. We’ve been doing this for over a decade and can help connect you to the resources that work best for you.

Finding A Dual-Diagnosis Rehab

mental illness and addiction

Life doesn’t happen in black and white. Mental illness and substance abuse disorders are the types of things that fall into that grey area. The complexities that underlie and lead people to each are vast and often inform the existence of the other.

Of course, people can have a mental illness or substance abuse but what about both together? What about and?

That’s dual-diagnosis and it’s something that many Americans struggle with. 

Treating someone with just one of the two, mental illness or substance abuse, already comes with substantial hurdles and difficulties but having both makes treatment even more difficult.

Not impossible, far from it, but there are challenges.

When multiple conditions are presenting at the same time they will start to conceal each other and obscure the real issue at the root. Therefore, going into treatment for just one may end up completely missing the actual problem and essentially only alleviating symptoms.

Defining Dual-Diagnosis

Dual-diagnosis carries the definition right in the name, it’s a person that has a mental disorder and co-occurring alcohol or drug problem. This particular type of comorbidity occurs pretty frequently with roughly 7.7 million adults in the United States being affected by it.

The saddest part is that the relationship between the two, substances and mental illness, works to make the other one worse. The drugs or alcohol intensifying whatever mental illness you’re battling and vice versa.

Almost 40%, 37.9% to be exact, of those with substance use disorders, also had mental illnesses. An astounding amount. About 1 in 5, or 18.2%, with a mental illness, also deal with a substance use disorder.

The most common co-occurring mental disorders that our partner programs treat are:

  • Depression
  • Bipolar Disorder
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
  • Anxiety Disorders

That’s not an exhaustive list, at Above All Treatment Network we can help match you with a program that’s specialized to handle the particular mental disorders that you or a family member or friend are living with. 

A dual-diagnosis is tricky to untangle but once confirmed it requires an integrated treatment approach that tackles both in tandem. 

 

Finding the Right Dual-Diagnosis Rehab for You

Even though solutions are out there, a shocking 52.5% of people received no mental health care or substance use treatment at all and only 9.1% received treatment for both. The disconnect is related to the fact that dual-diagnosis rehab is a niche and the reality is that not every treatment center is equipped to handle the complications and intricacies of navigating both at the same time.

Therefore, finding the facility that’s specialized in dual-diagnosis rehab gives you the best shot at successfully conquering both demons and avoiding relapse.

What that looks like in practice is that a rehab emphasizes creating a customized plan that simultaneously targets both substance abuse and mental illness. Working on both at the same time is the only way to navigate towards a lasting and fruitful recovery.

Because of the damage that suffering from both drug and alcohol abuse as well as a mental disorder can cause, the best course of action is a stay in a residential inpatient center. Just detox isn’t enough since that doesn’t touch the mental angle and detox alone is rarely enough anyhow. Outpatient care isn’t immersive to the degree a dual-diagnosis client would need; it simply doesn’t offer enough attention.

At Above All Treatment Network, we’ve been around long enough to have seen the disparity between dedicated dual-diagnosis care and the care a standard drug rehab center provides. There is a significant difference and just tackling the substances without touching the mental health issues is a bridge that only gets you halfway there. We choose our dual-diagnosis partner programs in California carefully, let’s find the one that helps you get all the way there.