The more tools you have when you leave a drug and alcohol rehab center, the less stressful the transition will be.  The more ways to control stress in your life and build your confidence in your ability to handle life without drug and alcohol abuse, the calmer you will be.  Sometimes you can look to ideas and methods outside the immediate realm of drug addiction to help you.  There is an old management addage that I have heard at courses many times.  You don't get what you EXPECT, you get what you INSPECT.  In other words if you don't check for compliance of behavior and work expectations you will never get compliance to the degree you desire.  If it works for large faceless organizations why can't it work for you?

When you leave the drug and alcohol rehab program, why not set up a series of "inspections" for yourself that you will use to keep you to your planned path.  Why not arrange to be drug tested every 3 days for the first month?  Having an obective external source checking you could be very useful.  Arrange to have the results forwarded to the counselor in the rehab center you felt safest with.  It is important to know someone will be monitoring your behavior for the first while. 

Another option would be to meet with a counselor, weekly for the first couple of months.  While there get them to do a basic depression index test on you.  By tracking week to week you will be able to see if your general mood is slipping in the wrong direction.  Having someone go through your finances and accounting for all the money you spend is another way to have an inspection.  Drug and alcohol abuse takes money.  If you have someone verify all the money you spend daily for the first month would be one more way to inspect yourself for the behavior you learned in a drug and alcohol rehab program to continue.  There are no "rules" about the way you have to find your path to sobriety.  Why not write as many as you can that will support you and give you the structure you need to succede.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 11:59 am and is filed under Drug Rehab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.