In the early stages of addiction recovery, people are most vulnerable to fear and self-doubt and, thus, relapse. Focusing on life skills for sober living early in rehab is the best way to establish new habits supporting ongoing recovery. In Colorado, the early recovery plan for addiction that Mile High Recovery Center offers can provide a solid foundation to build a healthy life of sobriety.
The Denver-Aurora metro region of Colorado experiences a higher-than-average rate of substance misuse. For example, more than a quarter of residents over the age of 12 participate in binge drinking, and nearly 12% of that same age group are diagnosed with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders.1 In Colorado, early recovery life skills benefit residents like this. Life skills are fundamental to recovery and healthy living. Find out more about the benefits of early life skills for recovery in Colorado by giving us a call at Mile High Recovery Center. Our number is 303-268-2144, or you can complete our online form to connect with one of our staff.
Why Life Skills Are Important in Early Recovery
When someone is suffering from a substance use disorder (SUD), the grip of their addiction is powerful enough to cause them to lose track of some of the basics that would help them navigate daily life. Relearning these fundamentals gives them an anchor with which to hold on. Going through the motions with conviction can quickly lead to fully incorporating skills and habits that become second nature. You have to start somewhere. In early recovery, life skills education is a critical support for long-term success.
5 Benefits of Early Life Skills for Recovery in Colorado
Mile High Recovery Center focuses on life skills in early recovery because starting early helps you establish new, healthy habits so that when you leave rehab, you continue to thrive while avoiding triggers for relapse. Below are five essential life skills for early recovery.
1. Communication
Effective, healthy communication erodes when you have an addiction. In your family and workplace relationships, it isn’t easy to maintain transparency and honesty when dealing with an SUD. Signs that someone doesn’t have healthy communication habits include the following:
- Covers up for poor behaviors triggered by drug or alcohol abuse
- Lies when people ask you direct questions or express concern
- Casts blame on others to deflect it from themselves’
One of the early life skills recovery benefits is relearning how to be an effective and honest communicator.
2. Setting Goals
How are you going to reclaim control over your life? So much of your daily life struggling with addiction has probably felt out of your control. When your focus is constantly drawn to when you can find and take your substance of choice, it isn’t easy to navigate work and family schedules, keep up with responsibilities and commitments, and make time for the things that once mattered to you. As you focus on life skills in rehab, you will learn how to set concrete, attainable goals, building up gradually to a place of confidence and success.
3. Stress Management
Life is stressful. Life struggling with addiction is even more stressful. When you are in rehab, learning stress-management skills, from establishing positive sleep hygiene habits to learning mindfulness techniques, can reduce your stress levels, enabling you to manage the rest of your life more effectively.
4. Money Management
Practical and necessary, sound budgeting is one of the life skills that takes a big hit when you suffer from the disease of addiction. The financial cost of your drug or alcohol habit involves not only the expense of addictive substance acquisition but also loss of income, and the consequences of increasingly poor judgment, which has led to poor financial decisions. In a life skills class in rehab, you will relearn how to take care of your money.
5. Healthy Habits
Your physical and mental health are inevitably affected by an SUD. In addiction treatment, one of the benefits of early life skills recovery in Colorado is that you will establish healthy habits that will support your overall wellness as well as your success in recovery. Good nutrition and exercise are just the beginning. Combined with relaxation techniques and the positive habits of honesty and vulnerability practiced in therapy sessions, you will strive toward a state of balance and health.
Starting your recovery with solid support and healthy habits will increase your odds of long-term success.
Learn Early Recovery Life Skills at Mile High Recovery Center
At Mile High Recovery Center in Colorado, early recovery life skills benefit you on your journey toward recovery. Near Cheesman Park’s Denver Botanic Gardens and City Park, our comfortable, accessible rehab center provides evidence-based treatment for addiction and co-occurring disorders. Find out more about life skills in early recovery at Mile High Recovery Center. Use our online form or call us at 303-268-2144.
