More and more it is apparent that stress control in vital to sobriety. One of the most inexpensive, and easiest skills to use for this is meditation. It can be done is any situation and requires no special equipment. Best of all, it can be self taught. Joining a group or class, may speed up the learning curve, but in no way is that required. Another really great book for self learning on this topic is The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Wookbook. It is easy to read, straightforward and clear. It would help anyone in a drug and alcohol rehab program. Actually it would just plain help everyone.

In a drug and alcohol rehab program which is the most important? In most treatment centers there are not unlimited resources. Clients do not stay for an infinate period. There are always decisions to be made on prioritizing time and resources. So if we have to choose, which is a greater benefit to the client?

I think this boils down to a question of which direction we want to go with clients. In most instances counseling involves discussing the past. Finding out what went wrong, then learning new ways to cope with those circumstances in the future. This second component is education. Learning new skills to deal with stress and emotioins in life. It is the second component that will allow a client to change their life.

You can live a sober and fulfilling life without dealing with past traumas. There is nothing wrong with looking at the past, but it is not ESSENTIAL to change. Leaning a new way to look at an old problem is. Therefore I believe in most instances it would be a better choice of resources to spend time and money on learning new skills. Great counseling will help you feel better. New skills will change your life.

The skills to learn in drug and alcohol rehab are many. The most important is structure. One really needs to find ways to build interesting, challenging and fulfilling PLANNED activities in their life. Work is structure. Courses are structure. Exercise groups that meet regularily are structure. Structure is planned in advance and has a consequence if you don’t show up. (Even if it is just a phone call from someone saying, “Where were you?”.)

Sadly a high percentage of people who go to drug and alcohol rehab relapse very quickly. Most often it is within the first week. Structuring those first weeks out of a treatment program are absolutely key to success. One must be very busy with activities filled with safe groups of non-using people. The times for the first two weeks should be planned down to the hour. It needs to be written out. Time to rise and time to go to bed needs to be planned. The busier and tighter the schedule the better. In the first days after rehab, structure is everything.