While you are in a drug or alcohol rehab program you can take the time to figure out some of the basics in your life. Often we can get involved in an addiction if we haven’t found a real purpose in our life. A purpose is the overall theme or reason for what we get up for in the morning. For some people it can be, being a fair and kind person, in a ruthless business world. Raising sane and balanced kids can be another purpose. Buidling homes that will last 100 years can be another.

A purpose will allow you to grow and stretch yourself. It will allow you to gain skills you never thought you can aquire. A purpose will help you to build a legacy in your life. But a purpose will also help you stay clean and sober. If you are in love with want you do and why you do it, abusing drugs or alcohol no longer fits in with your core picture of yourself. It will add that valuable component of structure to your life.

Take the time to dream of what you love to do while in a rehab program. Reconnect with you dreams of what you what to become and build. Relight the kid in your heart that thinks you can be anything you want. If you really don’t desire and want to be something else, it is very easy to just stay being an addict.

After drug and alcohol rehab, a simple daytimer may be one of the most valuable weapons available to remain sober. The simple yet powerful act of carefully planning out at least a weeks activities in advance is extremely valuable on many fronts. It becomes very very easy to see how much quality activity has been preplanned. Days with nothing scheduled can be veiwed as warning signs.

It also allows you to plan around a theme each week. Something you either want to improve on or need to improve on. While in an alcohol and drug rehab program, many ideas and skills were presented. By using a simple daytimer you can work on implementing one of these throughly and carefully each week.

After you leave a drug rehab it becomes harder to see day to day improvement in your life. By glancing back thorough a daytimer every once in a while, it is readily apparent the changes that have been made. At the same time any areas that you want to work on even harder may surface. Most daytimers are less than 20 bucks, money in this case that is very well spent

When you leave drug and alcohol rehab you have everything in place. You have a place to go that is safe. You have a job to go to. You have a detailed plan with structure for the first 2 weeks. You have new skills to learn. You have safe social situations to attend. However what if with all these things in place you still end up using. A single use after rehab is called a lapse. How do you prevent a lapse from turning into a relapse? A few simple rules can absolutely prevent a lapse from turning to a relapse from turning into full blown drug and alcohol use.

First is to remove any remaining drugs or alcohol from your home. It must be flushed down the toilet IMMEDIATELY. If you cannot do this or are afraid that you will use it before you destroy it, get a friend or family member to dispose of any remaining drugs or alcohol. Secondly phone or sit down with someone you trust and go through your relapse prevention plan with a careful eye as to what went wrong. Look objectively at the area that allowed you to place yourself in a situation to use. Bulletproof this area. Find different solutions. If you discuss your lapse immediately you can stop the guilt and stress that will lead to futher useage. There is never a reason for a single use to turn into a relapse.

In most drug and alcohol rehab sites you see a small amount of information about family involvement. It almost looks like lip service. There are comments like, families and spouses need to be involved in the rehab process for the best possible outcome. Some rehab programs involve the family in the last weekend or have some weekend therapy session along the way.

While anything is better than nothing, more needs to be done for the families and spouses of the person with the addicition. Even though they haven’t used drugs themselves, being close to an addicted person has resulted in changes in their life and personality. The way they interact in the world has changed. Their trust level has changed. Their financial situation has changed. While you have a spouse, son or daughter in rehab you need to work on some of these things yourself so there may be a successful outcome. Like it or not, to a certain extent, your in this together.

All drug and alcohol rehabs have rules in place to prevent drugs or alcohol from being in the facility. This goes back to the safety that everyone deserves. Rehabs need to take every reasonable precaution to keep out these substances. However, can any rehab keep out drugs and alcohol perfectly, always without exception? The answer is no. Clients who want to will always find some way around the security measures in place. The governments with far more legal and financial resources cannot keep drugs out of prisons. Rehabs can keep out 98% of the drugs and alcohol. The last 2% is the clients responsibility as a group and as individuals. Even with drug testing clients still need to take a role in the formation of a drug and alcohol free zone. The must report anything that seems out of the ordinary or any drugs or alcohol they see. When a client views the drug free zone as the sole responsibility of the drug and alcohol rehab, The facility will always be slightly dirty. Safety is a two way street.

In most alcohol and drug rehab programs role playing can assume an important position. The funny thing is that it is hard to get clients to take role playing seriously. Most clients either find it too uncomfortable, or constantly make up so many jokes as to sabotage any effectiveness of the exercise. Role playing is a truly great exercise. It allows you to practice situations that cause difficulty in your life with no chance of getting hurt.

It allows you to repeat over and over again until the languaging of a client’s reply becomes smooth and comfortable. Role playing how to turn down drugs or alcohol should be practiced by all clients before the leave a drug or alcohol rehab. Role playing different reponses to social or family situations that ususally ended up in arguments in the past is a great way to try new skills in relationships.

Role palying may feel uncomfortable, but it is so much less uncomfortable than living an addicted lifestyle.

Everyone wants safety and fairness in a drug and alcohol rehab program. In order to feel free to change, clients deserve to be free from all types of drugs or alcohol. They deserve to to be from verbal and sexual harassement of any kind. They deserve to know they will be not a chance of physical violence or the threat of physical violence. Everyone agrees on this. It is why drug rehabs have rules, and must enforce them.

It is when the rules are enforced, that people start to disagree. It is in this area that rationalizations and justifications occur. Everyone wants exemptions. If the rules are not enforced uniformly to everyone, there is no safety. Without safety, there is no freedom. There will be no change. When you read the rules of a drug rehab, follow them or leave. Don’t ask or expect exemptions. If you can’t abide by the rules, find another rehab with rules you can honor. That goes double for the employees of a rehab.

There are so many many options out there to choose from in drug and alcohol rehabs. I spend a lot of my time looking at what is being offered and thinking about the pros and cons of each type. I enjoy looking at and evaluating everything I can so as to offer whatever information possible to help people make the best choice for them. I have come across quite a few sites that really bash 12 step.

I readily admit I personally do not like 12 step. But I think some of the complaints go way overboard. I feel if you are digging into your pocket and spending your hard earned dollars you should get more than just a 12 step program at a drug and alcohol rehab center. Since 12 step information and meetings are essentially free, a center where you pay money can do better than that. However as an organization for people who have no money for drug or alcohol rehab, 12 step meetings are a viable choice. And to personally attack people who follow 12 step devoutly as a cult seems to be a tad extreme.

I think we need as many options as possible available to us in dealing with drug and alcohol addiction. You need to find the best choice for your goals, financial situation, and time available to deal with this problem.

Another group trying to deal with addiction though a non 12 step process is Rational Recovery. Going through their materials again they have some tools that may appeal to some people looking for a non 12 step route. One concept I read with interest is the idea of a “zero tolerance ultimatum” for the addictied member of the family. Not a classic intervention, this involves a clear statement that the behavior will not be tolerated anymore. It goes down the route of family membership comes at a price, and clearly states what the minimum price is for someone to continue to enjoy the benefits of this membership. Interesting reading and more tools for you to try at www.rational.org

In drug and alcohol rehab programs we all need options. 12 steps doesn’t work for all people. There are lots of drug rehab facilities that offer different treatment programs then 12 step. One of the big knocks against non 12 step is that the options for fellowship and meetings after rehab are limited. There are several groups working hard to solve this. SMART recovery is such a group. They have a wealth of information on their website. www.smartrecovery.org has lots of reading and worksheets to aide those who are interested. They have listing for meeting groups, both locally and on-line as well.