If you struggle with a substance use disorder, staying clean and sober is a challenge you must meet and conquer. Even after a successful rehab and living life in recovery, you need to know how to avoid addiction relapse. Understanding the most common signs and the key tips to avoid relapse can save your life or the life of someone you love. If you would like to learn more about how a relapse prevention program can be one more tool in your relapse prevention plan, contact us online or call 781.412.1488 today to discover how that is just one of the benefits of the A Better State addiction treatment program.
7 Tips to Avoid Relapse
There are many methods and ways to learn how to avoid addiction relapse. Although there is not a cure for addiction, you can actively make a relapse prevention plan using these tips to avoid relapse. With ongoing effort and belief, you can stay clean and sober.
1. Attend an Addiction Treatment Program
It isn’t easy to quit using drugs or alcohol and stop the cycle of addiction on your own. Addiction treatment is the ideal place to begin your recovery journey and how you will lay the foundation for avoiding relapse. There are many different options for getting professional help, including the A Better State addiction treatment program, which will address and heal your whole self through a treatment plan designed especially for you.
2. Go to Therapy
One of the best tips to avoid relapse is to make therapy a key part of your relapse prevention plan. During clinical therapy, your actions and emotions will be addressed. It is here where you will learn about what is happening in your mind and where you can begin to experience personal growth and learn to shape your mindset to prepare for a life without drugs and alcohol. Part of a relapse prevention program should be therapy sessions that are designed to highlight the emotions and patterns of thought that may potentially lead to negative and addictive behaviors and cause relapse.
3. Learn Coping Skills
One of the best tips to avoid relapse is to focus on learning the coping skills that will allow you to meet the triggering thoughts, feelings, places, people, and memories that could lead to a relapse head-on. With these skills, you will be able to cope with potentially harmful emotions healthily.
4. Change Your Lifestyle
The detox removed the toxins from your system, and the addiction treatment program taught you about your disease and how to overcome it. But there could still be toxins in your environment at home and within your friendships. These must be eliminated to prevent a relapse. Changing your lifestyle is another step toward long-term recovery and one of the tips to avoid relapse. You may need to remove toxic people and situations from your life to stay clean and continue your recovery.
5. Develop a Support Network
Surrounding yourself with supportive people who love you, care about you, is patient, and understand your journey should be part of your relapse prevention plan. When it comes to tips to avoid relapse, having a friend who will pick up the phone at all hours, is excited about finding sober activities to enjoy with you, and will have your back when things get hard is critical to preventing relapse.
6. Find New Hobbies and Get Active
Depending on what you did while using drugs and alcohol and how triggering those hobbies are today, you may need to find healthier hobbies and even change the kind of work you do to make a living while developing a successful relapse prevention program. And because depression and anxiety are common struggles during recovery and while staying sober, getting your body moving through regular exercise is a great way to release endorphins in your brain that boost energy and regulate your mood. Consider starting to:
- Walk
- Jog
- Do yoga
- Swim
- Bike
- Lift weights
Find something you like to do and get your body moving every day!
7. Ask for Help
Finally, when it comes to the tips to avoid relapse, the most important one may always be to remember that you can ask for help. Asking for help doesn’t mean that you are weak; it means that you are human and want to know how to avoid addiction relapse and need assistance in doing so. This could mean reaching out to your therapist, a 12-step program, a support group, or an understanding group of friends. You never have to cope with a drug-free life on your own.
Learn More at A Better State
You do not have to go through your recovery alone. Learn how to avoid addiction relapse at A Better State. Contact us using our secure online form or call us confidentially at 781.412.1488 today.
