Once you have completed treatment, keeping up with your given aftercare plan from Renaissance Ranch is an essential part of your sobriety. Having that ongoing support and structure is going to help ensure that you stay on the recovery path. It is equally as important to know that throughout your journey, your aftercare plan can change as you do, if necessary.
Why an Aftercare Plan Could No Longer Be Working for You
As an alumnus of a Renaissance Ranch program, you have been incorporating the 12 Steps into your recovery journey. While combining the 12 Steps with other therapies in treatment, you have been working to heal yourself as a whole person. We put together an aftercare plan once you have completed treatment, which is in place to help you stay on track. Our aftercare plans are just as individualized as each of our programs.
Throughout your time in treatment, you likely found yourself shifting the way you view recovery and sobriety. The shifts in how you view the world or yourself and your capabilities are likely to continue after treatment. With that in mind, your needs in recovery could also change as you progress in life.
Having the realization that your aftercare plan is no longer working for you is not inherently bad. It could just be a sign that you are continuing to grow. Your plan may just need to be adjusted to better fit your evolving needs. Change can be scary, but beneficial. Making the choice to get help for your addiction or substance use disorder (SUD) is a great example of beneficial change. We encourage you to ask for assistance in making adjustments to your aftercare plan because life is full of surprises. People change and grow over time so there is no shame in needing to change the ways in which you get support in order to remain in recovery.
How to Know When Your Aftercare Plan Is Not Working
Because we are all human, we are always growing and changing. This can look different from person to person. Some individuals who have been in our care could have had a spiritual awakening while in treatment. We believe spirituality is important to your recovery. This can continue to evolve over time. Things like attending church could be part of your aftercare. We also know that not every individual’s changes within themselves are always going to be entirely spiritual.
Some aftercare plans will include working and other involvement in the community. We hope to put you in a position where you can best keep on the path of sobriety. If you start to notice that your work or community involvement is no longer helping you stay sober, this could be a signal that changes need to be made to your aftercare plan.
Other signs that your aftercare plan is no longer a good fit for you could include feeling unfulfilled. This can occur for a multitude of reasons. As you grow throughout your recovery journey, your interests could change. This change is not necessarily negative, it could simply mean you are interested in new activities. This means we could then incorporate those interests into an adjusted aftercare plan.
Lastly, noticing that you are wanting to return to your addiction or SUD is another sign that action needs to be taken. This can look different for everyone, you may feel less in control of triggers, or more tempted to give in. Again, it’s important not to feel ashamed of this. We can work with you to make changes to address any difficulties that may come up.
What Happens Next
It will be difficult for adjustments to be made to your aftercare plan without recognizing that change is needed. Once you have realized that you need changes to your aftercare plan, you can work with someone on our team to make the appropriate changes to cater to what you need. You may need to change something regarding work or community involvement, or you could need more support from others, or even a change in living arrangements. All of these possibilities are able to be addressed with our help.
We want to best support the men who come to us for help. We are here to help you throughout your entire journey and that won’t change if you need adjustments to your care. This includes your aftercare plan and means we will not turn you away when you need our assistance. Keep in mind that our program has a unique lifetime guarantee that can also be utilized if necessary. We always hope our alumni will not have to return to our treatment, but it is an offer we can make if needed.
We know that our programs can cause lifetime changes to the men who come to us for help. We want to support everyone the best we can for as long as necessary. Your recovery and support won’t end just because you have completed treatment. If at any time you feel that your aftercare plan is no longer best suited for you, we can help. Call (801) 308-8898 so we can help ensure you stay in recovery moving forward. Acknowledging that changes are needed to your aftercare plan is not a sign of weakness, nor is needing additional support and seeking it out. Recovery is a lifetime journey and we are going to be here for you throughout the entire way.