Focusing on the widespread and growing issue of addiction is an idea whose time has come.

More than 1.5 million new cancer cases were expected to be diagnosed last year, according to the American Cancer Society, and heart disease is responsible for more than one in every four deaths in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. Thanks to tireless advocates, we now run 5K races, tune in to star-studded events and buy products and services that donate to these worthy causes, funding treatment, research, education and prevention. When it comes to raising awareness about substance, though, the process is just beginning – despite the fact that 22 million people in the U.S. (and roughly 200 million worldwide) struggle with addiction.

This month, we all have the opportunity to take a huge step forward in understanding and supporting the disease of addiction. September has been set aside as National Recovery Month, promoted by SAMHSA (The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) to bring attention to this growing problem that affects more than 1 in 14 Americans directly and countless more friends and family members who get caught up in their loved one’s disease.

Addiction is an age-old problem, but the idea of offering community-wide or even national support for those affected by the disease and celebrating the people living in recovery is still catching on. It’s an idea that’s long overdue, though. Sit down and talk to someone who has felt the impact of addiction – you won’t have to look far to find them — and they’ll tell you how it wreaks havoc on families, relationships, careers and health. It’s an equal opportunity offender. That’s why it’s important for the public to understand, embrace and encourage people who in the throes of addiction and those who emerge on the other side. The cost is too high for all of us if we don’t.

The National Institute On Drug Abuse estimates the total overall cost of substance abuse in the United States — including lost productivity and health- and crime-related costs — exceeds $600 billion annually. Add to that the often-related issues of family disintegration, loss of employment, failure in school, domestic violence and child abuse, and only then can you get a feel for the true scope of the problem.

As part of National Recovery Month there are hundreds of events planned across country, from walks and runs to cook-offs and concerts. Visit www.recoverymonth.gov for more information or to find an event near you.

Drug Treatment

If you or someone you love is in need of drug treatment or alcohol treatment, call The Canyon at our toll-free number. Someone is there to take your call 24 hours a day and answer any questions you have about treatment, financing or insurance.

Employment is a big part of an active and positive recovery. You need goals. You need something positive to fill your days. You need a way to pay back your debts. Finding a job is one of the best ways to do those things, but here are a few things to consider as you undertake the process.

Finding a Job You Can Deal and Assessing Your Career After Drug Rehab

Many in recovery report that the atmosphere at their job and how they feel while at work can make or break their recovery. This isn’t just a money issue. You may find a job that pays you six figures, but if the stress is too much for you to bear or you are surrounded by people who are actively abusing drugs and alcohol and you ultimately relapse back into addiction, it won’t matter at all. Here are a few “must-haves” when it comes to choosing a job after drug addiction treatment:

• No drug abuse or use. If you are surrounded by co-workers who smoke marijuana or do crystal meth on the job or come into work while high, it’s only a matter of time before you relapse. Avoid these jobs at all costs.
• Low stress. Any job that causes you stress due to a demanding boss, intense hours that are difficult for your schedule, work that is hard for you to undertake, or too much work expected in a short period of time can ultimately push you to relapse.
• Interesting work or advancement opportunities. If you find a low-key, laidback job where you get to work with good people – great! But if it starts to bore you or you find that you have a hit a ceiling in terms of your advancement opportunities, this too can be an obstacle to your sobriety.

The best idea is to find a job that is interesting to you that provides you with room for growth and progress, allows you to work with positive people, and means working hours that allow you to attend 12-step meetings or personal therapy and care for your physical health. Ultimately, if your current career path or the career you were in before drug rehab no longer serves you, it’s time to change focus.

Living Your Life After Drug Rehab

Stay tuned for the last post in the series, After Drug Rehab: The Question of Relationships. In the meantime, check out other posts in the series:

1.       After Drug Rehab: Getting the Support You Need to Succeed

2.       After Drug Rehab: Create Your Own Treatment Plan

3.       After Drug Rehab: Focus on Relapse Prevention

4.       After Drug Rehab: Paying Off Your Drug Addiction Treatment Bill

We began this blog post series by looking at how to get the support you need to succeed after drug rehab, and fighting relapse, and creating your own treatment plan in order to stay on track in your recovery. Today, we look at one of the biggest issues facing those who opted for financing to pay for their drug addiction treatment: how to pay back what you owe while remaining dedicated to your recovery.

Debt and Recovery: Finding Balance

Many people take out a large loan to cover the full cost of their drug rehab bill when health insurance is either non-existent or doesn’t cover the full amount. And most in active addiction have a fair share of bills well before they even begin the process of paying for drug addiction treatment. Handling this debt may not be easy but it’s possible to handle it without minimal stress and low risk to your recovery. Here’s how:

• Contact those you owe. Call credit card companies. Call your financing company. Explain your job situation and let them know what you can pay going forward. Ask for a reprieve on interest or a lower interest rate, and let them know that you are in recovery for a medical illness and will need more time to pay back what you owe.
• Consider debt consolidation. Non-profit debt consolidation companies are often a solid way to handle overwhelming debt when you can’t manage the minimum payments. Most will contact those you owe and negotiate a lower interest rate and set a repayment period, allowing you to make one payment that they disburse among your creditors. NOTE: Avoid debt settlement companies at all costs. These ask you to break contracts and often result in lawsuits.
• Create a budget. Figure out what you need to pay rent, bills, and food as well as the payments for each person you owe. Assign any extra funds to pay off the smallest debt first so that you can get rid of a bill. Once that first bill is paid off, make that payment to the next smallest debt on your list until that, too, is gone. Stick to it!
• Consider a second job. Don’t overwork yourself so that you are no longer prioritizing your physical health or your drug addiction recovery, but if you can’t handle the minimums and you can’t get the companies to lower the amount of your monthly bill, consider getting a second job until you can make some headway.

Handling Finances in Drug Addiction Recovery

No matter what your job situation, make sure to stay in contact with your financing company. If you go through a hard time, ask if you can lower your payments for a period. If you get a job that pays more than expected, make an effort to pay off the loan early so that you can more quickly be released from debt. In the meantime, if you don’t have a job you love, consider getting the education you need to move forward or changing locations if you get a job offer. Paying bills is important but doing so by doing a job you love is even moreso to your recovery!

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.

Neither a slip nor a relapse are positive in recovery, but they are very different and can mean different things to you and your issues with addiction. A slip is easy to move forward from. A relapse – a relapse is far more dangerous and can result in accidental overdose, accident, or a return to a full-blown addiction.

A Slip: What it is and What it Means to Your Recovery

A slip is a one-time, brief mistake. It may or may not even lead to getting high or drunk: a glass of wine, a bump of a drug, a joint at the game. Though you may feel guilty or experience intense fear that a slip signals a failure in your recovery, it can be an unimportant moment in your history depending on how you follow it up.

The best way to deal with a slip is to increase your efforts in recovery and address the events that happened before the slip. Were you feeling stressed out before it happened? Were you just not paying attention? Was it a conscious, thought-out decision or was it something that happened because you weren’t focused on saying ‘no’? Depending upon the issues that preceded your slip, you should be able to address them by limiting stress and increasing your awareness of how your feeling and what and who is in your environment.

A Relapse: What it is and What it Means to Your Recovery

A slip is a full-on night or day of drinking and/ or abusing drugs. In some cases, a relapse can even last for a few days. Those who relapse often lie to friends and family about it during their period of relapse, stop their involvement in their recovery (e.g., no 12-step meetings, no therapy, etc). The only difference between a relapse in a recovery and a relapse back into addiction is whether or not you are able to stop. If you can’t stop, it’s time to head back into treatment. If you can stop, you may still need to follow up by amping up your recovery plan, increasing your support network, creating an actionable plan to defend against another relapse and consider an outpatient treatment program or a sober living program to help you get back on your feet.

Check out our first post in this series, Relapse in Recovery, Part I: How it Starts and stay tuned for the next one, Relapse in Recovery, Part III: Identifying it Before it Starts.

There are iPhone apps for pretty much anything you can imagine: a 4th grade long division app, a sports update app, an app that will help you confess if your Catholic, an app that will turn off or turn on your house alarm. Until now, there wasn’t too much iPhone technology in the area of drug addiction. Apple’s changed all that now with a new app that can help you identify whether or not drug addiction is a problem in your life. The app has features that include:

• Tips to manage stress without resorting to drugs or alcohol
• Reasons why people abuse drugs
• Information on different types of drugs, including their effects and symptoms of addiction
• How to find out if you have a drug abuse or addiction problem
• Information on how to help yourself or others living with drug addiction
• Benefits of getting drug rehab help

The drug addiction app goes for about $15.

The Benefits of Technology in Drug Addiction Recovery

This latest addiction to the iPhone app repertoire is just one of the many valuable technology options that provide a great deal of benefits for those who are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction. Many in recovery have been saved by the cell phone: without the ability to call someone while they were out and feeling like they wanted to get loaded, they may have relapsed. With the cell phone, they were able to have the phone number they needed handy in their phone and to make a call on location without trying to find money for a pay phone. Yay, technology!

Here’s another one: the Internet and a plethora of online sites provide valuable information and support for those in recovery or seeking information about drug rehab. You can find sites that offer questionnaires that allow you to determine whether or not drug addiction is a problem for you, those that provide information about the different types of treatment available, and sites that assist you in paying for drug rehab. You can also create your own website or a free blog where you can recount your personal struggles with drug addiction treatment, vent your frustrations and find support during recovery. The round-the-clock nature of the Internet is extremely helpful for those who find themselves triggered at all hours of the night.

Find More Information on Drug Rehab

Even you took advantage of technology. You explored your options and landed here, reading about drug and alcohol addiction treatment. No matter what time of day or night, we are available to assist you in finding the drug addiction treatment help you need. The call is free and our counselors can assist you in enrolling in an effective program for you. Contact us today.

Rather than buy into a $5000 a plate dinner to benefit the cause of the month as many celebrities do, Beyonce Knowles has decided to take a different philanthropic route. She and her mother, fashion designer Tina Knowles, have opened the Beyoncé Cosmetology Center at the Phoenix House Career Academy in Dumbo, Brooklyn for those recovering from drug and alcohol addiction and/ or mental illness.

The Benefits of Beauty School for Dual Diagnosis

Beyonce’s new beauty school offers those who are dually diagnosed an opportunity to gain job skills in a supportive environment. Those who have successfully completed rehab and who are focused on getting their lives back on track after active addiction can come here without worry of being judged for their past or discriminated against due to psychological issues. As long as they remain on a healing track, the Beyonce school offers a 7-month program that is focused on continued dedication to recovery and learning.

Beyonce, Hair Salons, and Recovery

According to Beyonce, hair salons are inherently a place for community and support. Her mother, Tina Knowles, worked in a salon when Beyonce was a child and Beyonce remembered it as a place to “share stories, cry, laugh, and get advice. The first sign of recovery is caring about your appearance and hopefully, this Center will be a place that will change lots of lives every year.”

Combining beauty school with recovery was an idea that came to Beyonce when she spent time at Phoenix House while preparing for her acting role as Etta James.

Says Beyonce: “Through their stories, I realized that all of us have our personal struggles and we all have something to overcome. But it is mostly drug and alcohol addiction that has the stigma that must be removed. Drug addiction is a disease and these beautiful women I met did not choose to become addicts, but they have chosen to get better, and the staff at Phoenix House is important to that healing process.”

This isn’t the first move Beyonce has made on behalf of the women who inspired her at Phoenix House: she also donated her salary from her role as Etta James to the foundation. She and her mother will also donate $100,000 a year to their beauty school.

Recovery and Rejuvenation

While there are only a limited number of openings at Beyonce’s new beauty school, there are a ton of opportunities for those coming out of drug rehab and looking for a new focus in life. Programs are available across the country that provide a sober living as well as assistance if not training in reaching a new educational or job goal post-rehab.

The Canyon is one such place. Located in southern California, we can provide a sober living environment for those who have successfully completed drug rehab. Contact us today to learn more about our program or to schedule a tour of the facility. Find out if The Canyon is the right place for you.