Addiction Therapy
Outpatient therapy for addiction is best for individuals who are concerned about their substance use, but are not appropriate for a higher level of care.
Someone may also find themselves in outpatient treatment for addiction at the very beginning of their recovery journey when they are just coming to terms with the expanse of their difficulty, or after the completion of a residential program or sober living term, as they are looking to reintegrate back into their community.
During outpatient treatment, spouses/partners, children, parents, and siblings all remain a part of their loved one’s life, as does the potential to be subject to triggering situations and the opportunity to make choices about how to respond. This will likely be a focus of treatment, as a therapist treating addiction will first teach you about the disease, help you to develop alternative coping skills, review healthy ways of responding to others, and work with you to create a relapse prevention plan.
In addition to encouraging clients to seek support from the community, the therapy session will be a way to review daily efforts towards sobriety, and help guide an individual in creating the sort of life they want for themselves, free of addictive behaviors.
Similarly, for family members affected by the disease of addiction, speaking to a therapist about a loved one’s problematic relationship with substances can be helpful, whether they are in residential treatment, or living in the same home. Discovering your own practice for self-care and setting aside time for therapy in order to evaluate your own problematic patterns of relating can be perhaps the most important thing you can do to support your loved one’s sobriety.