Stress Management to Stay Sober

An inability to manage stress in healthy ways contributes to substance abuse. During your stay at Beaches Recovery, you learn life skills and coping mechanisms to handle stress. What are some stress management techniques you can use after graduating from the program? Most importantly, what should you do when you notice that you struggle with temptations to start using again?

How Stress and Substance Abuse Connect

Tight deadlines at work, problems at home, and just everyday life can be stressful. At Beaches Recovery, therapists routinely work with good people who made bad stress management decisions. For some, alcohol became a way to relax. Others used stimulants to boost productivity.

Eventually, the substances take over. It becomes almost impossible to function without the drugs. What used to be an occasional tool for handling stress now becomes a lifestyle. Therefore, rehab becomes the best option for people who need to regain sobriety.

How Rehab Introduces Stress Management Techniques

When you enter Beaches Recovery rehab, you work with an addiction specialist. The expert pinpoints your treatment needs. Next, she or he will put together a customized care protocol. Interventions may include:

• Dual diagnosis treatment for program participants with co-occurring psychiatric disorders that amplify stress
• Dialectical behavior therapy as a way to manage strong emotions that overwhelm you
• Cognitive behavioral therapy to recognize patterns of dysfunction in your thinking and actions
• Group therapy for anger management and addiction education
• One-on-one talk therapy that encourages you to set goals, identify stress and commit to alternative ways of handling problems

While staying at the facility, you work individually and in groups on recognizing the stress that triggers you. Because everyone’s different, you may face pressure that differs from those that others struggle with. Similarly, only you know what stress you might encounter when returning home. After graduation from the program, you’ll have the stress management tools you need to deal with triggers in healthy ways.

Returning Home after Rehab

Managing stress after rehab requires you to make some lifestyle changes. It would be easy to fall back into old patterns. However, you’ve committed to sober living. Because drugs and alcohol are no longer options for you, there has to be something to take their place.

Nutritional counseling at Beaches Recovery teaches you how to make healthy meal choices. By focusing on fruits, vegetables, and your unique dietary needs, you ensure that you feel strong and healthy. This cuts down on the sudden stress-related cravings for salty junk food that might then trigger alcohol cravings. Taking these lessons with you after rehab is easy.

The same goes for the fitness therapy you joined in. At Beaches Recovery’s facility, you learned that exercise makes you feel good. You might have started a new routine that felt comfortable. Continue exercising now, and make it a priority even if your schedule is busy.

At the facility, meditation is a holistic stress management tool that program participants learn. The ability to quiet yourself is not something that comes naturally for most people. Therefore, you have to learn it. Most importantly, you have to keep practicing it to receive the maximum benefit.

Many graduates from the rehab program find local wellness centers that offer guided meditation classes. Frequently, they combine the practice with yoga therapy or stretching exercises. In this setting, you get the benefit of both modalities. Most importantly, you undertake regularly scheduled stress-busting techniques.

Another tool is the support group. Local 12 Step recovery program groups provide the positive peer pressure you need to stay on track. Group meetings are excellent venues for getting input on dealing with stressful situations. Besides that, the presence of people who’re also in recovery helps you feel optimistic about your future.

What Happens When Temptations and Cravings Get Too Strong?

Relapse prevention means that you know when you need to get additional help. For many former program participants, this means attending support group meetings more regularly. For some, however, it means checking into our program on an outpatient basis. Maybe you need a little help polishing your coping skills.

No matter what your stress management needs are today, therapists can assist. Whether you’re a newcomer to the program or returning alumni, there’s help for everyone. Contact Beaches Recovery today by calling 8662749281 now.