Skills Archives - Enlightened Solutions

Should I Create Wellness Goals in Recovery?

Written by enlightened solutions on December 8, 2022. Posted in Recovery.

As the year winds down, it is a time for reflection and resolutions. It can be a great time to create goals around health and wellness in recovery. Your goals will ideally address your specific needs to improve your overall well-being. Treatment offers the opportunity to learn holistic solutions like nutrition and wellness.

Creating wellness goals is a great way to achieve improved health. Goals surrounding wellness generally fall into two categories: behavioral or outcome-related. Behavioral goals are about a specific behavior, such as a goal of going on a 15-minute walk every day. An outcome-related goal is centered around achieving particular results, such as losing 10 pounds.

Regardless of the type, having a goal provides direction for change. It gives you a structure through which to work on changes you want to make in your life. Without goals, you can easily feel overwhelmed by the changes you want to make. Goals provide a specific item on which to work and give you an outcome or behavior to focus on. This can help to improve motivation and continue to make changes as you recover.

What Is Wellness?

Wellness is a state of being in good health in many dimensions of your life. According to The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), wellness includes the following eight dimensions:

Finances
Occupation
Social
Emotional
Spiritual
Intellectual
Physical
Environmental

All of these dimensions play a role in our overall well-being and are connected. This means that when you have an issue in one area, it will not only impact how you feel overall, but it will also impact the other aspects of your well-being. For example, financial concerns can create physical stress, or spiritual discourse can lead to emotional stress.

Finding Your Individual Path

The path to wellness will look different for each individual. It will address your specific needs to help you to improve your health and overall well-being. However, wellness goals commonly include some of the following:

Sleep
Nutrition
Exercise
Stress management
Building community
Life skills such as finances or cooking
Work

Finding Balance

Creating balance in your life is an essential aspect of wellness. Each individual has different needs, aspirations, and preferences, and therefore balance will look different for each person. There will also be specific cultural differences that are important to consider. Remember, finding a balance between work, family, and other needs takes time. If finding such a balance is something you are struggling with, that’s okay. Reaching out to your support network or mental health care professionals can help you identify how to move forward and achieve the balance you want.

Finding a balance helps you get through challenging times. When we are in more stressful periods, we rely on our habits. Having balanced wellness gives us support and options when we need them. This is because we can reach out to family, rely on our physical or mental health, or utilize spiritual support to get through challenges.

The Value of Wellness in Recovery

Mental and physical health are well known to be associated with improved outcomes in recovery. Making goals to improve your well-being can help you successfully maintain your sobriety. Research has found that depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress can lead to relapse.

Recovery is a long-term path in which you learn to care for yourself and manage situations without drugs or alcohol. Wellness goals in recovery are a great way to grow habits that support your overall well-being. This helps to decrease the risk of relapse while allowing you to live a more satisfied and happy life in recovery.

How We Approach Health and Wellness at Enlightened Solutions

At Enlightened Solutions, we believe in a holistic approach to recovery. Our programs allow and encourage reflection, community building, and making a connection between your core beliefs and actions. We teach skills that can help you to improve your wellness in treatment and beyond.

We help our clients cultivate and practice the following skills to help them learn to care for their wellness:

Nutrition
Sleep
Spiritual
Community
Energy levels
Mental health
Exercise
Stress relief

At Enlightened Solutions, these wellness aspects are incorporated into our treatment programs. This is because we strongly believe in supporting each client in every aspect of their healing. When our clients learn the skills needed to find a balance in their well-being, they can carry these skills into their lives after treatment and beyond.

Each client’s support and needs look different. This includes the goals they create, how they make changes, and the type and amount of support needed. However, goals help clients to make changes on the path to recovery from substance abuse and addiction. In our experience, making attainable goals that address each individual’s needs has successful and fruitful results.

Around the end of the year, people tend to consider some goals and resolutions for the year to come. As a whole, wellness is the combination of every aspect of our lives. These parts intersect and impact each other. Wellness is very important in recovery and plays a role in your ability to maintain sobriety. At Enlightened Solutions, we integrate wellness into every program we offer. We support clients in their needs in order to improve mental and physical health along with spirituality and community. If you are interested in learning more about our programs and how we can help you, call us today at (833) 801-LIVE to speak with a knowledgeable and caring staff member.

Can I Return to Work After Treatment?

Written by enlightened solutions on August 13, 2022. Posted in Recovery.

Working provides a sense of purpose. Of course, it helps pay the bills too. Once you reach a certain age, your life seems even to revolve around, or at least be impacted heavily by, the work you do. For so many, it can be the reason to get up each day. There will always be good and bad days, but work is usually something most people are somewhat motivated to do.

Work and Addiction

Addiction can create major disruptions at work. Substance use affects things like focus, motivation, and sleep. A lapse in any of one of these areas could cause you to become less efficient and effective at work. Imagine all three areas being impacted. You become less productive, less reliable, and less likely to advance. If your supervisors or coworkers don’t catch on immediately, they will likely notice that something is off eventually.

Despite the distractions and deficits that substances can create when it comes to work, many still manage to remain employed. However, this is usually temporary. Employment can serve as a barrier to seeking treatment at times. You may feel as if a leave of absence would surely cost you your job. Or, you may be afraid of what your superiors or coworkers would think if they knew you had an addiction. Maybe you are the breadwinner in your family, and your income is essential.

These are all very valid concerns. While using work as an excuse to avoid treatment could be justified with any of the reasons mentioned above, things will likely continue to spiral the longer you wait to get help. It is important to address your addiction as soon as you discover you have a problem. While leaving your job may seem like a huge hurdle and inconvenience, you can rest assured that it will seem like far less of a sacrifice when you experience the opportunities that await you in recovery.

Growth During Treatment

Let’s say, hypothetically, that you decided to seek treatment and take a leave of absence from work. Maybe you were promised a position when you returned, or maybe you put in your notice and quietly exited without disclosing why. Either way, returning to the workforce following treatment is possible.

Beginning something new following treatment can often be a good thing. Often, returning to old environments and surrounding yourself with the same people can bring back memories relating to your addiction, which could be detrimental to your progress.

Throughout treatment, you will engage in various programs to assist you in returning to life outside of treatment. There will be groups that help you with interpersonal skills such as communication and coping with conflict. You will also develop new life skills in reference to teamwork, networking, and collaboration, all of which can certainly come in handy when it comes to working during recovery.

Taking advantage of volunteer and experiential therapy opportunities throughout treatment can introduce you to skills and interests you may not have considered. For example, gardening or farm work is an excellent way to discover an interest you may have in planting, harvesting, or even cooking with fresh produce and herbs.

You can be introduced to programs that will even serve as a transitional opportunity during treatment. These programs are designed to help you build confidence, increase employability, develop new skills, and bridge the gap in employment that treatment can create.

Work After Treatment

By putting in work to discover your abilities and hobbies without drugs or alcohol, you will leave treatment with a better understanding of who you can be and what you can achieve moving forward. Take advantage of the opportunities to try something new. You may learn something about yourself!

If you choose to immerse yourself fully into the treatment process by keeping an open mind and participating in skill-building activities, you will leave feeling confident, resilient, and capable of taking charge of your life in recovery. Having a clear mind, a healthy body, and a renewed sense of self can make a tremendous difference when it comes to your career. You will have more confidence going in for interviews, feel better mentally and physically on the job, and feel more secure and settled overall.

Treatment can serve as an opportunity to heal, learn and grow. You can get your career back after rehab. Maybe, you will choose to pursue a brand new career path after some self-discovery and enlightenment you are sure to experience. Working is possible after treatment, and you can be successfully and happily employed in recovery.

Work is a huge part of life for most people. Whether it’s a Monday through Friday nine to five, or a nights and weekends gig, most adults spend a good percentage of their time at work. Leaving a job to seek treatment can be scary. The thought of losing out on income or leaving a job behind to get help for your addiction can be very intimidating. Try to look at treatment as an opportunity to improve in all areas of life. You will heal your body, mind, and spirit, allowing you to become the best version of yourself. At Enlightened Solutions, we focus heavily on self-discovery and learning to cope with conflicts and barriers that may be present in your life. We facilitate activities to help you advance your skills in various areas, which will leave you feeling more confident and capable. Call Enlightened Solutions today at (833) 801-LIVE.

How Coping Skills Can Prevent Relapse

Written by enlightened solutions on August 12, 2022. Posted in Recovery.

How do you cope with conflict or challenges that come your way? Everyone faces adversity at some point in their life. How you respond to and handle adversity is critical for your health and wellbeing.

At a young age, we are often taught to shake things off or take a walk to cool down when we are feeling stressed or upset. The truth is, as we age and encounter more difficult situations, these simple solutions may not always have the therapeutic effect they once did. When it comes to drug or alcohol addiction, there are many things that can come your way that may cause distress and hardships. Relapse can be difficult to avoid at times, especially when cravings strike or you find yourself feeling overwhelmed or stressed.

In these instances, it is necessary to come to battle prepared with skills and strategies for coping with the urge to use. These can be developed and strengthened over time. With practice and determination, you can reduce the chances of relapse by using skills learned in treatment. At Enlightened Solutions, we focus on relapse prevention.

Potential Challenges

Let’s take a moment to discuss potential issues that could arise during recovery that could make you consider relapse. These could be small things, large problems, unexpected incidents, or even minor setbacks to your progress.

For instance, say you lost your job suddenly. This can not only create stress for you but could also create stress for your family members who may be counting on you to pay the bills. Maybe you have an argument with your partner or family member. Familial conflict can be a huge trigger for many and can often create immense stress.

Spending time with others who may be a poor influence or aren’t supportive of your new lifestyle can also create issues. You may feel pressured or feel as if you don’t belong. These emotions can lead to the consideration of using again to ease these feelings of isolation. We all have bad days, right? However, a bad day for someone in recovery can result in relapse if they are not prepared with strategies for staying on track.

Building Coping Skills in Treatment

Coping skills can be developed through therapy and group learning and practice during treatment. Many would consider coping skills to be some of the most important things to carry into recovery. The more prepared and confident you are in your ability to stay on track during recovery, the more successful you are likely to be.

How do you build this confidence? The answer lies in feeling well equipped to take what you have learned in treatment and apply it to life in recovery.

Individual Therapy

Individual therapy sessions allow you to really open up and explore your trauma, barriers to recovery, and behavior patterns that do not serve you. By addressing these things one-on-one with a therapist, you are able to develop skills for navigating these potential barriers to your success.

A few examples of skills you might develop through individual therapy could include boundary setting, mindfulness, methods for self-care, and more. Putting the skills learned to practice outside of sessions is key.

Group Therapy

Group therapy, while less individualized, can create a sense of community and a feeling of belonging. When you feel like others have your back, you feel more confident and comfortable leaning on others for support. Sometimes, having the support of peers can help you cope with conflict and avoid relapse.

Group therapy also provides an opportunity for you to practice the skills you learned during individual therapy sessions. Practicing these new skills in a safe space with others who share similar goals can be less intimidating and can allow you to really sharpen your abilities prior to integrating them into your life outside of treatment.

Experiential Therapy

Experiential therapy involves using fun and often fellowship-driven activities to promote skill-building and practice. This can serve as an additional step following group therapy for you to practice your coping skills in real-life settings. Some examples of experiential therapy can include gardening, fishing, surfing, or hiking.

Consider the skills involved in these activities. You might need patience, focus, and determination. Many may also require teamwork and leaning on others for support. All of these skills can help you cope with stressors and challenges that could trigger a relapse.

Coping skills come in handy in many situations. Whether you need to overcome a difficult situation with work or you need to process an unexpected loss, coping skills are essential. When it comes to avoiding relapse and staying on track throughout treatment and recovery, how you respond to adversity will make all the difference.

Coping skills are crucial when it comes to staying focused on your goals throughout treatment and recovery. By engaging in individual therapy, group therapy, and other experience-based therapies you can develop specific skills for coping with stressors and obstacles you are bound to face in treatment and recovery. At Enlightened Solutions, we offer various forms of therapy to address your specific needs. We take a trauma-first approach to treatment, meaning we aim to address underlying trauma and help you heal mentally, spiritually, and physically as you move forward with your goal of sobriety. Let us help you develop skills for a successful and healthy future. Through our programs, you can build the confidence and skills you need to thrive in recovery. If you or someone you care about is struggling with drug or alcohol addiction, give Enlightened Solutions a call today at (833) 801-LIVE.

Tag: Skills