Why Those in Recovery Make For Excellent Rehab Staff. There is a responsibility statement in the world of 12-Step recovery that states, “When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of [recovery] always to be there. And for that: I am responsible.” This statement often holds true for those who have successfully gone through treatment and/or rehab. This is why you can find so many people today that have gone through recovery and ended up on the professional side of it; they, too, have become responsible.
The shared experiences of active addiction, rehab, and recovery can be the most vital parts of an individual’s recovery journey. Understanding that they are not alone, that other people have recovered, and those people want to see them succeed can sometimes be exactly what someone needs to know to keep moving forward.
At The Phoenix Recovery Center, we understand the isolation, loneliness, and separateness that active addiction can cause. We know this because many of our staff have been through it themselves. That is why we aim to utilize this wealth of knowledge and experience as one of our greatest assets to help our clients recover.
Utilizing Rehab to Renew and Nurture Relationships
There is an understandable fear that people have when it comes to going to rehab, a feeling that rehab is a “point of no return.” For someone in active addiction, this can be terrifying because it also means the end to fueling the disease of addiction. Fortunately, rehab is a “point of no return” when an individual takes it seriously, commits to healthy change, and continues to utilize effective coping skills and aftercare resources.
An adequate rehab program will prepare its clients on relapse prevention methods to avoid toxic behaviors that once ruined their livelihood. It can be a point of no returning to the mental and emotional turmoil that active addiction can cause. Of course, ineffective rehab can lead to returning to unhealthy behaviors, so finding the best one for your needs is vital.
However, rehab can also be a pivotal point in moving forward. Rehab can help someone move forward and begin to repair and renew relationships that their addiction disrupted and damaged. It can also help individuals create new positive relationships that can help them live a new productive and communicative way of life.
The Importance of Relatability in Recovery
Many people in the recovery community share the belief that reliability is crucial to recovery. The concept is that “only someone that has been through it can understand what ‘going through it’ really means.” While it is not a requirement for recovery, we have found that having staff that understands first-hand what it means to go through recovery and come out victorious on the other side has been pivotally critical.
Understandably, going through rehab can be fearful and startling. For many, it is not only the first time going through such an intense process, but also perhaps the most important action they may ever take. The action of saving their own life. This is why having people that can empathize, listen, and drop judgment can be so essential.
The Importance of Community in Recovery
Relatability is also necessary after the initial treatment or rehab has concluded. It is imperative to have a community of like-minded people that can help a person avoid the pitfalls that can endanger their recovery.
Whether it is someone willing to answer the phone when someone is struggling or someone that is already a member of a recovery community, we are here to open the door for a newcomer. Maybe it is someone in the professional recovery field that a person feels safer discussing their problems with. Having positive relationships in recovery can be paramount to both attaining and maintaining a successful long-term recovery.
The Story of Addiction and Recovery Becoming Our Greatest Asset
One of the more prominent recovery programs is Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). AA was founded in 1935 in Akron, Ohio, with the primary belief of “one alcoholic helping another” (the accepted term now being someone with alcohol use disorder). With that belief, AA is now believed to have helped over a million people worldwide, not including friends, family, and coworkers that were once affected by that person’s addictive behaviors pre-recovery. This is an exemplary example of how relatability can work wonders in recovery.
Whether it is in our residential treatment facility, through our day program, or our general or intensive outpatient program, we have people that have been there before. These people share our primary purpose: to help our clients recover at all costs.
