What is National Recovery Month?
This September marks the 30th anniversary of National Recovery Month, put on by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). National Recovery Month is an annual nationwide event created to raise awareness surrounding treatment for substance abuse and other mental health disorders. The amount of people struggling with mental health and substance use disorders continues to rise every year.
How Recovery Coaches and Clients Benefit from Soberlink Alcohol Monitoring
For the 15.1 million Americans who struggle with Alcohol Use Disorder every year, the most difficult part of the recovery journey is not just finding the path to sobriety… it’s staying on it. During the first year of recovery, it’s recommended that individuals seek some sort of continued care rather than attempt to navigate the unfamiliar terrain of recovery alone. While there are many options for continued care, hiring a recovery coach is the one that provides the most individualized approach.
Alcohol Use Disorder in College Students: How to Read the Signs
College is the quintessential springboard from the awkward and insecure phases of adolescence into the new, uncharted territories of young adulthood. It’s often the cornerstone of new friendships, long nights spent studying, and decorating your first apartment. And, of course, college isn’t without its dark underside. For many people, alcohol is an essential part of college- as synonymous with their school as football teams and biology classes. It’s a social lubricant flowing throughout parties.
Why Substance Abuse Counseling is a Fulfilling Career
In our adult lives, we spend the majority of our days busy at work. Unfortunately, research shows that an overwhelming majority of adults loathe their careers. Fewer than half of Americans report being satisfied or extremely satisfied with their current jobs. When you don’t like your job, you’re at a higher risk for developing resentments, fatigue, and complete burnout. You’re more likely only to provide the bare minimum- and the days, weeks, and years will subsequently drag.
Why Alcohol Use Disorder is a Chronic Disease and How to Manage it
Whether its environmental, genetic, lifestyle-related or all three, the gravitational pull individuals may feel toward alcohol can start as a means to “feel good” and lead to a dependence on the substance in order to feel normal. While society often promotes drinking in social situations, featuring it in television, movies, music and more, there is a stigma attached to Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Among the harmful misconceptions associated with alcoholism are the beliefs that individuals choose to drink and lack the willpower to stop, attributing it to a vice, rather than a chronic disease–as it was declared in 1956 by the American Medical Association (AMA).
Why Treatment Providers Strongly Recommend Alcohol Monitoring for Lasting Recovery
Treatment providers in the addiction recovery field have one unifying goal: help clients attain and maintain sobriety. One way to achieve this goal and help clients overcome Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is through alcohol monitoring. As the leader in remote alcohol monitoring technology, Soberlink has helped treatment providers enhance clients’ recovery journeys for nearly a decade. Continue reading to discover why four out of five treatment providers recommend Soberlink.
Communication Tips for Treatment Professionals: Improve Your Relationship with Your Clients
Communication is the key to all successful relationships. It is the foundation on which trust, the cornerstone of relationships, is built. In a client-provider relationship, this trust is known as the therapeutic alliance, which helps patients know the treatment provider has their best interest at heart. Findings suggest that a strong therapeutic alliance helps reduce psychological distress during treatment for substance use disorders and facilitate necessary gains in maintaining sobriety, such as increased motivation, self-efficacy or coping skills.
How to Help Your Clients De-Stigmatize Relapse
One message you may regularly tell your clients or anyone else recovering from addiction is to take things one day at a time. It is one thing to say this, but it is another thing to accept this approach and put it into practice. The difficulty of putting this attitude into practice becomes apparent the moment someone experiences a relapse. Your client (or whoever has relapsed) often feels a range of emotions. These emotions can feel overwhelming, and these emotions can be powerful. Your client may feel shame, guilt, disappointment, and fear.
7 Ways Technology Can Assist in Addiction Recovery
For many years, addiction treatment has been more of a one-track approach, majorly focusing on the building of the individual’s moral strength and assisting them to be able to say, “No” to the substance they are abusing. Although the 12-Step Program has been highly successful at helping millions of people achieve and maintain sobriety through age-old concepts such as personal accountability and fellowship, other approaches can also be included to this addiction treatment program which can further improve outcomes.
Using Technology to Enhance Your Addiction Treatment Program
An estimated 22 million people in the U.S. are in recovery from alcohol and other drug addictions, each on a recovery path uniquely their own. As we journey through the Digital Age where 62.9% of the world population has a cell phone, it’s becoming increasingly inevitable that Telehealth – the use of technologies to provide care over a distance – will be incorporated into recovery treatment programs.