Beyond Oz

THE LAND BEYOND OZ – Therapy & 12 Steps

So, you’ve tapped your heels together three times and said – ‘I want to go home’.  Now what?  This is where the path to true recovery begins – in the real world.

Some say that “an addict alone is in bad company”.  This means that fighting addiction cannot be done alone.  As humans we are designed to live in community.  Even a hermit needs a village in order to ‘be’ a hermit.  Most treatment centers require patients to attend daily 12 Step meetings for whatever their issue may be.  Additionally, if there isn’t currently a 12 Step meeting at the facility for your addiction you are supported in starting one.  Chances are there are others there that have that same issue.

Because 12 Step meetings support the community model and the understanding that ‘I’m not alone’, it is suggested that 12 Step programs become the bedrock of a recovery program after returning from treatment.  Sponsorship and meetings provide a foundation and structure to build upon a new life.  It can be lonely when a person is expected to “change people, places and things” in order to avoid triggers to using.  The added support from the members of 12 Step groups can ensure the addict has friends to turn to when ‘doing the next right thing’ becomes unclear.

Aftercare groups are also another suggestion that allow people to engage in the program once a week, often with some of the members they went through treatment with.  Studies show that those who remain involved with treatment for the first year of recovery often have the best success of ‘staying recovered’.

It is rumored around 12 Step programs that the first year of recovery is physical, the second year is emotional and the third is spiritual.  As people stabilize in their lives and health, family, jobs, school and finances are restored the deeper issues of recovery begin to emerge.  These elements of our lives, or ‘life stressors’, are often the reasons why a person started using in the first place.  When things got tough, our user ‘gets numb’.

Many of these issues rooted in past trauma and are often difficult, uncomfortable or inappropriate to talk about in 12 Step meetings or aftercare groups.  Further, people attending 12 Step meetings are not sufficiently equipped to help sort through the myriad of emotions that are involved or surface when these issues are brought into the light.

At Barrington Behavioral Health & Wellness we partner with people after treatment to help them design a life that is worth living, addiction free.  Working together in a safe and nurturing environment, we uncover these issues, or traumas, that preceded the use of alcohol or drugs and show the client that there is nothing to fear and there are healthy ways to address the issues.

Through the use of hypnotherapy, cognitive behavioral work and 12 step support we help you grow from a caterpillar into a butterfly, releasing the past that binds you so that you may fly toward your destiny.