How To Give Back To Your Pennsylvania Community After Getting Sober

Giving back to the community is a noble goal that anyone should strive towards. However, individuals suffering from substance use disorder must first go through rehab before they can start helping others. At Little Creek Recovery Center in Lake Ariel, we give our patients the support they need to get through rehab, and we are always proud to see them become productive members of society. Learning how to give back to your Pennsylvania community after getting sober can be a powerful motivator that can help you get through rehab. This article will cover how you can help others once you get clean. We will also talk about the importance that ‘giving back‘ has on your recovery, mental health, and relapse prevention.

You First Need to Go Through Treatment and Get Sober

Although wanting to help others is admirable, you’ll first need to help yourself. How can you be there for others if you are struggling with addiction? Associating with individuals who abuse substances to get high is difficult, even for people who don’t use drugs or alcohol. You may do more harm than good to someone if you are struggling to battle your addiction.

If you want to give back to your Pennsylvania community after getting sober, you should first enroll in the Little Creek clinical program. We can help you go through medical detox that can rid your body of drugs and toxins. Once your body and mind are clear of any substances, you can start working through our treatment programs.

You have to realize that getting sober doesn’t just include going through detox. Even after going through detox, there is still a long journey ahead. During this time, the risk of relapse is the highest. This is why the next stage in your recovery should be taking part in inpatient therapy. We offer men’s residential treatment, so you can stay in our Little Creek treatment facility while receiving therapy.

Learning to Work With Others in Group Therapy Meetings

While in therapy, you will learn many essential skills intended to help you maintain your sobriety. These skills include proper self-care through nutrition and exercise. However, another critical skill set our patients learn in therapy is social skills. If you want to give back to your Pennsylvania community after getting sober, you must develop social skills and learn to work with others. To help you develop these skills, the Little Creek Recovery Center offers group therapy sessions. During group therapy, you will attend sessions with other patients, giving you the chance to listen to their experiences. Knowing that you are not alone and that someone else understands what you are going through can feel incredibly liberating.

Taking part in group therapy will let you hear how others have struggled and overcome their addiction. Most patients feel willing to open up about their ordeal after realizing that others share their fears and doubts. However, group therapy will also teach you how to listen to others and offer them support. These are essential skills if you plan to give back to your Pennsylvania community after getting sober. Another huge benefit of attending therapy with other patients is that you will naturally start to build your support group. You’ll find that many of the friendships you form in therapy are incredibly strong. You’ll be able to rely on your friends from therapy whenever you have difficulty maintaining your sobriety.

Become a Sponsor

Most people have heard of the 12 steps program and the benefits it can provide to patients in recovery. At Little Creek, we use the 12-step principles as part of the treatment we offer. This means that our patients will get a sponsor who will guide and support them through their sobriety. Sponsorship is an integral part of recovery, and it’s a great way to give back to your Pennsylvania community after getting sober. Once you overcome your addiction and start living a productive, sober life, you can be a sponsor to someone else who is in recovery.

Many don’t realize that the final step in the 12-step program is about giving back. The twelfth step focuses on delivering the message of awakening and recovery to others. Of course, if you want to be a sponsor, you won’t be left to your own devices. We also offer CBT for addiction which includes skills training. In Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, you will learn how to regulate stress, maintain wellness, and other self-care skills. Once you learn how to maintain your own well-being, you will be better equipped to help others.

A huge part of preventing relapse is also going to be recognizing your triggers. We can teach you how to deal with negative thoughts and avoid negative behaviors through DBT training. Here you will learn skills such as mindfulness and interpersonal effectiveness, which are essential for building bonds with other people. If you successfully complete your rehab in Little Creek, you will leave our facility as an enlightened and well-rounded person.

Stay In Touch With The Friends You Made in Rehab

Everyone needs support and friendship, even when things are going well. However, it is vital to have a support group for people suffering from substance use disorder. Some people can count on a supportive family or friends from before rehab. However, not everyone is going to have those options. Thankfully, every Little Creek patient will be able to make lifelong friends during their stay in our facility. We offer a men’s-only sober living space where our patients can stay after completing inpatient rehab.

By spending time with other patients and attending group therapy together, you will quickly get to know each other. Therapy commonly requires that you open up and share your emotions in front of others. In those situations, the other patients in therapy will show you respect and understanding. Due to the mutual support, you will be giving to each other, the friendships that start in therapy can be incredibly powerful.

Staying in touch with the support group you have created for yourself will be critical if you wish to avoid relapse. At Little Creek, we realize that friends can help you when you are struggling with addiction. For this reason, we always incentivize our former patients to stay in touch. No matter how much time passes since you complete rehab, you will always share a special bond with other patients.

Attend Reunions Organized by Your Treatment Center

The Little Creek Rehab Center in Lake Ariel treats all patients as family. Alumni who have completed their treatment programs will always be welcome if they need additional support. Some former patients like to drop by to say hello, and they are welcome anytime without needing a reason. We love seeing how far patients have progressed since their time in therapy. It is a privilege to be part of their journey to sobriety, and we are always proud of their achievements.

To help patients stay in touch with one another, we have set up an Alumni Clubhouse. The Clubhouse can give our former patients another reason to visit. It is the perfect place to meet up, have sober fun, and socialize. However, the Clubhouse also plays another vital role. We believe that a great way to give back to your Pennsylvania community after getting sober is to attend the Clubhouse and speak to patients who are currently in recovery.

Individuals struggling with addiction can find it incredibly inspirational to hear the success story of someone who finished rehab. You can help others by sharing your insight and your experience. Simply talking to other patients and telling them that you were in their position once can be incredibly helpful. If you want to help more, you can offer to become a sponsor for someone. Helping guide someone who is having a hard time through the 12-step program will be a rewarding experience.

Reunions can also be lots of fun, and our Alumni often participate in the events we organize. One of our most popular events is the Outdoor Adventure program. It features various activities that let patients rediscover their sense of adventure while spending time outdoors.

Become a Productive Member of Society

We could argue that rehab centers have several important goals. All of them are intended to help you; however, during the course of your recovery, help can take different forms:

• First, detox can help you rid your body of toxins and get you clean. It will be impossible for you to recover if drugs or alcohol are still in your system.
• Second, Medically Assisted Therapycan help you control cravings and lessen withdrawal symptoms. Patients who manage to resist their cravings and overcome withdrawal have a significantly smaller chance of relapse.
• Third, we can teach you self-care. During your time in rehab, you will learn many important skills that can allow you to live a substance-free life.
• Fourth, and most importantly, we can help you re-integrate into society and live a healthy, productive life.

As you can see, simply getting clean is merely the start of your journey of recovery. Unless you learn to become a productive member of society, it will be easy to slip back into addiction. For this reason, we offer vocational services to our clients in outpatient rehab. During this phase of recovery, patients are encouraged to seek employment. Although it may seem trivial to you now, earning a living wage can give you self-esteem. Patients who find employment are more likely to remain free of drugs or alcohol.

Taking care of yourself and working a paying job is necessary if you want to give back to your Pennsylvania community after getting sober. Once you are living a happy, sober lifestyle, you will have enough energy and willpower to care for others. However, taking care of yourself needs to come first.

Set an Example in Your Community

One thing many people don’t realize is that substance use disorder is a lifelong disease. There is no cure for addiction, and you often hear people say they are a ‘recovering alcoholic.’ Thankfully, with the help of Little Creek Recovery Center specialists, you can learn to live free from addiction. However, you will need to constantly be on the lookout for triggers and develop methods for coping with temptation. The important thing is that it is possible to overcome your current cravings. If you get professional help, you can live a sober life and have many happy moments with friends and family.

Once you complete rehab, you can consider every sober day a victory. Your sobriety is something that you should be proud of, and many others will feel this way. Everyone loves hearing heartwarming stories about people who managed to overcome their inner demons. You can give back to your Pennsylvania community after getting sober by educating others. Talk about the dangers of addiction and the journey you had to take to become a better version of yourself. Explain that substance use disorder is classified as a mental illness and remove the stigma surrounding addiction. Tell people about the continuum of care and the level of support needed to overcome addiction.

Why It’s Important to Give Back to Your Pennsylvania Community After Getting Sober

There is a powerful sense of camaraderie and belonging to a community for people who managed to get sober. A common credo we often hear repeated is that it is important to pay it forward. We believe that this reflects fundamental tenets of beating addiction:

• Getting help and support. It’s virtually impossible to overcome your substance use disorder without the help of an addiction treatment However, to remain sober, individuals will need a support group they can count on when they are struggling.
• Helping others. Since someone was there for you, it’s only natural that you repay the favor to the next person. By adopting this philosophy, the cycle of support continues.
• The benefits of helping others. Unfortunately, we don’t often hear people discuss the benefits of helping others. Giving back to the community and supporting other rehab patients will have positive effects on your mental health.

Outro

Now that we have discussed several ways how to give back to your Pennsylvania community after getting sober, we hope you have a newfound understanding and respect for those who decide to help others. While helping others is highly noble, you must first get better yourself. If you need help, do not hesitate to call us. The first steps will always be the hardest, but help is within your reach. We would love to set you on the course of recovery. Once you get sober, you can start helping others.