There are any number of reasons why someone may seek the aid of a professional in order to address addiction or a mental health disorder. While someone may attend recovery sessions at the behest of a family member or loved one, the ultimate success of each session falls on the individual. Therapy for a mental health disorder or addiction of any kind has to involve a personal element in order to be successful. Someone cannot get better for the sake of an external force–they have to want it themselves.
Find Your Reason for Getting Help
Getting help with addiction and mental health disorders is something that is very difficult. It involves a large degree of vulnerability that someone may not be used to in their lives. Going through the difficulties of recovery can be made even more complicated if someone doesn’t have a concrete goal that pertains to them and that they have internalized.
When attending therapy, it is important to establish why someone is seeking this help. For addiction, simply wanting to get sober can be good, but it also has its complications when it comes to motivation. Instead, someone needs to set their own personal and professional goals in recovery and then work to understand how their newfound sobriety helps in accomplishing these life goals.
In short, each person has to truly want a change in their life. Finding a reason for sobriety can take any number of forms. For some, their sobriety will allow them to pursue a dream career or hold down a job that they love. For others, sobriety may help with their home life and relationships. As long as the motivation is there, there is no wrong reason to seek sobriety.
Family members may implore someone to seek help with an addiction, but pursuing sobriety to reconnect the family unit can still be a motivating force. Addiction affects every aspect of someone’s life. Likewise, every aspect of someone’s life can be a motivational tool for their sobriety.
Different Therapies for Different People
Another part of personalizing someone’s own therapy is finding the right therapeutic structure for each individual. For some, group environments can prove to be the most beneficial as they allow for many people to pool their ideas and strategies together and work together towards a common goal. For others, the more directed, nuanced, and intimate setting of individual therapy may be more appropriate.
Media therapy, therapy animals, equine therapy, and a plethora of different coping mechanisms and grounding strategies can be employed depending on the needs and abilities of each individual. Ultimately, the kind of therapy that someone wants will be up to each individual as finding a personal strategy that works for them can lead to the most impactful kind of healing from addiction or a mental health disorder.
Don’t Be Afraid to Change Strategies
During recovery, it is possible to realize that someone is not getting the kind of care that they need or is not using the strategies that are most pertinent to them. Some relationships with professionals may not be as personal and impactful as someone may want in their recovery. During these times, it is okay to ask questions about the kind of care that someone wants and the kind of care that they are getting.
It is also possible that someone may need to seek a new professional to help them with their unique circumstance or adjust their recovery model to better utilize something that will have more impact overall. It is important not to be afraid of addressing something that may be best for them and changing therapies based on the options available.
Recovery from addiction is not a race to see how fast someone can be “cured.” It is a marathon that involves constant adjustments and intricacies, and cannot be rushed. People who suffer from addiction may be dealing with it for years and so it is important that each person take the time to be sure that they are seeing the growth they want to see in themselves and that each session leaves them with a bit more to think about in their own recovery. Recovery takes time and making sure that each person is getting the most out of this time can help lead to a more long-lasting, self-fulfilled sobriety in their future.
Recovery will always be a personal journey. From each person’s unique story for why they walk through the door to the unique goals that each person has set for themselves in their journey through recovery, no two stories will ever be exactly the same. There are no cookie-cutter cases, and so each day it is important to understand how recovery affects each individual on a personal level and address the varying strategies that can be used to personalize the recovery process. There may be some trial and error involved, and not all strategies will be equally impactful in each person. So when a strategy works or a relationship is helping someone grow, use that time to nurture one’s goals for their future.
Recovery will always be a personal journey. At Alta Centers, the caring staff each prioritize the individuality of each program and can adjust their care depending on the needs of each person. Detox is the first and most essential step in recovery and Alta Centers know that the difficulties of this step can be mitigated by a personalized program and setting for each individuals’ recovery. For more information on how Alta Centers can create a plan just for you, contact one of their professional and caring staff today at (888) 202-2583.
