This month, we’re looking at the steps that you need to take after drug rehab in order to maintain recovery. There are a number of threats to your sobriety, and they can come from everywhere. The next few posts are dedicated to giving you the guidance you need to get through and avoid relapse whenever possible after drug addiction.

Have anything to add? Any suggestions that worked for you? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Getting the Support You Need After Drug Rehab

There are a number of different resources for emotional and physical support after you leave drug rehab and all of them can be the defining factor in your sobriety. Here are a few examples:

• Job support. As you begin the process of starting a new life without drugs and alcohol, you’ll most likely need to find a job. There are community resources (like food stamps and cash aid) that can get you started while also offering you help with the creation of a resume, job fairs, job interview training and more. Some communities even have resources where you can get interview-appropriate clothing if you need it. Money is a big problem that causes people to relapse. Take advantage of your community’s resources!
• Peer support. Meeting other people who are going through the same issues that you are as they acclimate to a life without drug and alcohol addiction can be crucial. It’s good to know that you’re not alone and to avoid isolation – isolation almost always leads to a slip or relapse. Instead, attend 12-step meetings for recovering alcoholics and addicts, go to group therapy and/ or volunteer in drug addiction outreach.
• Family and friends. Not all of your family and friends are going to be supportive of your continued recovery after drug rehab. Some who are continuing to drink and use drugs will, of course, want you to join them. Others who have a “normal” relationship with illicit substances may believe that you can have the same thing if you try. It’s important to find friends and lean on the family members who are willing to take midnight phone calls or last minute requests for time or help when you feel like you just need someone to hang out with or talk to in order to avoid relapse – leave the rest behind until you are more grounded in your new life in recovery.

Stay tuned for our next post in the series, After Drug Rehab: Create Your Own Treatment Plan.

It’s not an easy discussion to have, but talking to your kids about the medical disorder that is drug addiction is something that you will need to do before you head off to drug rehab. You’ll need to let them know where you’ll be going, how long you’ll be gone, that you need to get treatment help in order to get well and – above all else – that you love them and want to get better so that you can be a better parent for them.

Your Kids Know More About Your Drug Addiction Than You Think

Before you talk, listen. You may be surprised by how much your kids know about your relationship with drugs and alcohol. Though you may feel that you’ve kept everything a closely guarded secret, they may have found your drugs, seen you getting high, recognized the changes in you after drinking, and certainly noticed the mood swings that happen when you are on or off your drug of choice.

Start the conversation by explaining that drug addiction and alcoholism is a medical illness. When you say that you have that illness, immediately let them know that you can go to the doctor to get treatment and get better before they get scared. Tone your conversation to suit the age and understanding of your children, and ask them if they know that you have the illness of drug addiction. If they say ‘yes,’ let them talk about how they know and share what they think about the effects of drugs and alcohol on you.

Explain How Drug Rehab Can Help You Get Better

When you let your children know that you are going to drug rehab, remember to phrase it as the medical treatment that it is. Emphasize that you don’t want to leave them and that you will call and see them as much as possible but also let them know that that may not be for a couple days or weeks, depending upon the requirements of the drug rehab program. As soon as you are doing better though – show younger kids how long you will be gone on a calendar – make it clear that you will be coming straight home to them.

Emotional Reactions are Understandable but Keep Them in Check

Remember to keep your emotions in check as much as possible. It’s hard to say good-bye to your kids, but hysterical crying or an overload of sadness will only make it harder on them. If you feel yourself starting to break down, take a moment and get yourself under control before going on. On the other hand, be sure to let your kids know that it’s okay for them to have feelings about your addiction issues – anger and sadness are both perfectly acceptable – and be willing to listen to them talk through their feelings with you.

Contact us at The Canyon today to find out how we can help your family get on the healing path after your drug addiction and how children and significant others can be involved in your rehab and recovery process.

It’s one of the most common paths for recovering addicts to choose for their lives after they successfully complete drug and alcohol addiction treatment: becoming a drug rehab counselor. Equipped with the firsthand experience of how easy it is to develop an addiction and how hard it is to successfully combat the problem, all the recovering addict is missing is the required education and certification.

But is it a good idea for someone in recovery to become a drug addiction treatment counselor after attending drug rehab? What are the pros and cons?

Pros of Choosing Drug Addiction Treatment Counseling as a Career

You know the ropes of treatment. You know what it’s like to be an addict. You know the ploys and manipulations that are common among patients who are trying to fool themselves into thinking that using or drinking “just once” isn’t that big of a deal – you may have tried a few of those games yourself. You’ve got “street cred” if you’ve spent years with an active addiction and this can be extremely valuable in getting through to people who need help.

Another plus: the education you need to get started working at a rehabilitation facility with minimal responsibility is a certification that often takes just a couple of years to acquire. The classes may also serve to help you remain dedicated and focused on your own recovery, a requirement if you’re going to work in substance abuse treatment.

Cons of Choosing Drug Addiction Treatment Counseling as a Career

It’s not always the best choice for people in early recovery (the first couple of years) to spend so much time around active addicts. In some cases, new counselors with a long drug addiction history may be more likely to be influenced by the patients they are meant to be helping to sobriety than the other way around. Running into old friends with whom they used to use drugs and alcohol can be a trigger as well, and some drug addiction treatment counselors even report stealing the addictive prescription medication of patients when they felt tempted to get high.

Also, those in recovery are not known for always being sensitive to the feelings of others. Part of the process of growing in treatment is learning how to take responsibility for one’s own actions, follow rules even when they seem silly or unreasonable, and treat others with respect even when having a bad day. Often drug addiction treatment counselors bear the brunt of the abuse when patients have a tough time and for those in the first few years of recovery, this can be difficult to take.

Whether or not the job of drug addiction treatment counselor is right for you will depend upon you, your personality, your long-term goals for yourself, and your ability to prioritize your sobriety even when the job gets stressful.

Cocaine addiction reached the height of popularity during the 1970s and 1980s. As new drugs came onto the scene – especially cheaper stimulant drugs like crystal meth –  its popularity dropped off and many stopped viewing the drug as much of a threat. As a result, educational focus on the dangers of cocaine addiction fell off in schools and the numbers of those living with an active cocaine addiction has slowly started to creep up in some areas of the country.

So how do we handle the threat of cocaine addiction? Do we increase education and prevention efforts in the schools? Do we up legal enforcement of the ban on cocaine trafficking? Do we increase availability of cocaine rehab programs for those who need it? What’s the best way to handle a problem that is stealthily growing every day?

Increasing Cocaine Addiction Prevention and Education

Most adults seeking treatment for drug and alcohol addiction report that they first began abusing drugs and alcohol during their teen years. Because prescription drug addiction, marijuana addiction, and alcohol abuse are the top three drugs of choice for teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18, most drug prevention and education is focused on the effects and dangers of these drugs specifically. Perhaps a little bit more attention paid to the effects of cocaine on its users as well as the families that are destroyed and the lives lost during its processing and distribution path may well help to open up the eyes of young users to the risks they are taking when they “experiment.”

Increasing Cocaine Drug Trafficking Laws and Enforcement

There’s been no change to the status of cocaine as an illegal substance despite the decrease in popularity. The US Coast Guard regularly stops boats carrying shipments of hundreds of thousands of pounds of cocaine and confiscating the substance before it can hit the streets. When police find cocaine in large amounts or small among a person’s possessions, charges are pressed. It certainly isn’t taken lightly to even be under the influence of the substance and law enforcement officials are already doing what they can to curb the sales and distribution of the drug.

Increasing Access to Cocaine Rehab

One of the best ways to fight cocaine addiction is to make sure that all who are struggling with dependence have access to the medical and psychological care that they need to effectively heal. Cocaine detox and addiction treatment programs like the ones provided at The Canyon are a great way to begin a new life in recovery. Contact us today to learn more.

Gambling addiction is a medical and psychological issue, just like drug addiction. While half of those seeking treatment for drug addiction are struggling with a co-occurring psychological disorder like depression or anxiety, it is estimated that one in three people in drug rehab also have a gambling problem. It can be complicated to extricate a gambling disorder from a drug addiction disorder during treatment, but because one issue can trigger the other, it becomes important to address both problems at the same time during addiction treatment.

Problem Gambling and Gambling Addiction After Drug Rehab

Many people think that they can continue to gamble even after they go through drug addiction treatment and get clean and sober. Unfortunately, for most, gambling triggers drug addiction temptations. Free drinks at a casino are hard to pass up and the urge to take other stimulant drugs like crystal meth or cocaine in order to stay awake and continue gambling is extremely hard to resist. It’s almost impossible for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics to continue to gamble if they used to gamble during their addiction – it’s akin to hanging out at bars and clubs every night of the week while trying not to drink or get loaded. It just doesn’t work for very long.

Treating Gambling Problems and Addictions During Drug Addiction Treatment

Though many recovering addicts play cards before AA or NA meetings or even to entertain themselves during rehab, if the addict is one of the 33 percent with a co-occurring gambling disorder then this is no longer fun and games. It can trigger the pleasure pathway and adrenaline in much the same way that drugs and alcohol do, and it quickly becomes impossible to stop. With all the same effects on life that drug addiction brings – financial problems, relationship issues, difficulties at work, social problems – it requires the same kind of treatment and this is most effective when it happens in conjunction with drug addiction treatment.

The key is therapy and psychological treatment. What purpose does gambling serve? Escape? Soothing? Why do you feel that you need assistance in these areas? It’s often unresolved trauma and other psychological issues that are dealt with through drugs and gambling. Dealing with those issues during treatment can alleviate the need to get high or gamble.

Additionally, experiential therapy explores the emotions underlying the traumatic events and experiences while personal therapy also provides the guidance necessary to learn better coping mechanisms that don’t include gambling, drugs, alcohol and other dysfunctional and damaging choices.

Contact us today at the Canyon to learn more about our drug rehab programs and how we can help you heal from dual diagnoses like addiction and gambling.

IMPORTANT: If you have found this post because you are trying to help someone you believe is experiencing a heroin overdose RIGHT NOW, call 911 immediately. Do not wait to read the rest of the article.

If you want to be prepared if someone you care about overdoses or if you are concerned about the possibility of overdosing yourself, then read on. Below you will find the information you need to identify a heroin overdose as it is happening and respond quickly so that you or your friend will have the best chance of surviving the experience.

Recognizing a Heroin Overdose

When someone overdoses on an opiate drug like heroin, it’s not sudden or quick like it is in the movies. Heroin slows the heart rate and breathing rate, and a person who is experiencing an overdose will first feel dizzy and confused, then pass out. If they don’t receive help while unconscious, their heart will continue to beat more and more slowly and their breathing will eventually stop. They’ll slip into a coma and eventually die if medical assistance is not provided in time.

If you don’t know the dosage that your friend took and they are still awake and conscious but unable to focus on a conversation, keep a close eye on them. If they lose consciousness, call 911.

If your friend appears to be unconscious but you can’t tell if he or she is sleeping or overdosing, here are a few signs that will signify that a heroin overdose is in effect and he or she needs medical help:

• No response to shaking their shoulders or shouting their name.
• Bluish tint to lips, nails, and/ or skin.
• Slowed pulse.
• Slowed breathing.

What to Do in the Event of a Heroin Overdose

If you recognize the above signs in your friend and you cannot rouse them, call 911 immediately. The 911 operator may ask you to perform emergency breathing or CPR if you can’t find a heart rate or he or she is not breathing. You will be asked to stay on the line until an ambulance arrives, and the operator may ask you questions about your friend in order to get information that he or she can pass along to the EMTs so that they can more quickly provide the necessary treatment: age, weight and height, what drugs were taken and in what amounts. Answer the questions to the best of your ability and try to remain calm. When the ambulance arrives, you will usually be able to accompany your friend to the hospital if you like.

If you or someone you care about is living with an active heroin addiction, call us at The Canyon today. We can provide a comprehensive

Turns out, actor Cory Monteith couldn’t be more different from his squeaky clean onscreen person on TV Show Glee, Finn Hudson: Monteith recently discussed having a serious teen drug addiction problem that was so severe that he dropped out of high school at age 16.

Says Monteith:  “I burned a lot of bridges. I was out of control.”

Though Monteith reports that he attended drug rehab at the age of 19, he said he didn’t really begin the process of fighting against drug addiction until he had an experience that he calls a “crystallizing event.”

Monteith tells his story: “I stole a significant amount of money from a family member. I knew I was going to get caught, but I was so desperate I didn’t care. It was a cry for help. I was confronted and I said, ‘Yeah, it was me.’ It was the first honorable, truthful thing that had come out of my mouth in years.”

His parents then staged an intervention for him and he agreed to go to drug addiction treatment. Says Monteith: “That’s when I first went to rehab. I did the stint but then went back to doing exactly what I left off doing.”

It was at that time that Monteith moved to a small town in Canada and stopped abusing drugs and alcohol. He returned his focus to school and earned a diploma as well and began to work on his acting career. It paid off: he soon landed a part on the hit TV, Glee, and hasn’t looked back.

Monteith doesn’t necessarily view his story as a success story that should be emulated.

Says Monteith:  “I don’t want kids to think it’s okay to drop out of school and get high, and they’ll be famous actors, too. But for those people who might give up: Get real about what you want and go after it. If I can, anyone can.

“I’m not Finn Hudson. I’m lucky on so many counts—I’m lucky to be alive.”

Hopefully, Monteith’s story will reach the right ears. Thousands of teenagers watch Glee religiously, and it’s likely they’ll hear Monteith’s story. While he doesn’t view his story as a success story, any story that includes drug addiction and ends with a clean and sober person living a healthy and balanced life is definitely a story of accomplishment, and it’s spreading the word that rehabilitation is possible that will encourage those living with addiction to get the help they need.

If you or someone you love is living with an active drug addiction, contact us today for more information about our California drug rehab program here at The Canyon.