Some of the most pivotal pieces of the recovery process may be those skills lost during periods of substance abuse. These life skills may seem trivial, but they provide the foundation for sobriety and wellness that many individuals require.
The Purpose of a Recovery Program
Most recovery programs try to ensure that the individual does not simply “get through” the program. Instead, programs are designed so that people can thrive going forward. This means they often need to acquire skills that will help them successfully acclimate to life beyond the treatment program. This is a truth that must be realized as people begin their recovery journey. It takes time and dedication to get to the point where they are truly ready to rejoin society.
Often a recovery program includes multiple pieces, including:
- Detox
- Individual therapy
- Group therapy
- Medication-assisted treatment (MAT)
- Post-recovery planning
Each of these aspects serves its purpose in the recovery process. However, the post-recovery process is one of the most important phases of treatment, as it prepares people for reentering society. A key piece of post-recovery planning includes learning or relearning life skills and ways to develop healthy hobbies.
What Are Life Skills?
When recovery centers discuss their life skills programs, they refer to those skills and activities that may often be seen as “normal” daily tasks. For many people in recovery programs, these skills have either never been learned or have been forgotten due to the person’s prolonged substance use.
These skills can include, but are not limited to:
- Proper personal hygiene
- Cleaning
- Cooking
- Learning to wash, dry, and fold laundry
- Money management
Each of these skills is important in its own right. However, not everyone requires life skills training in all areas. Therefore, programs may group many skills to provide a well-rounded view of post-recovery expectations and responsibilities and ways to create new habits that revolve around sobriety and a sober life..
What Is a Life Skills Program?
Life skills programs are run in a variety of ways. However, a sober house is one of the most common formats for learning life skills. In a sober living house, individuals are in a group home environment. This largely self-sufficient group will learn to accomplish daily tasks and learn life skills outside of a treatment environment.
Completing Assigned Tasks
Tasks are often assigned to people in sober living homes. This helps people not only to learn by doing. It also helps them to feel a sense of pride in self-sufficiency that they may not have felt before. In these scenarios, the individuals will be assessed for what they can and cannot do on their own. When this assessment has been completed, staff members will utilize the best methods to ease people into learning these life skills. They may be asked to help prepare a simple meal, set the table for a group of people, or assist in folding laundry.
Accepting the Importance of Life Skills
It is important to know that some clients may initially find this type of program demeaning or beneath them. They may have spent most of their lives being helped or even catered to by others. A life skills program will assist those who want help and show everyone exactly why self-sufficiency is essential.
Learning Self-Reliance
One of these programs’ main goals is to ensure that individuals understand that they can run on their own steam. They learn that they have it within them to create a life where reliance on others is secondary. Of course, everyone needs a community around them, but reliance on them should only go so far. Community is about mutual assistance rather than reliance. This can be one of the most important lessons conveyed in a life skills program.
Who Benefits From a Life Skills Program?
Many different people can benefit from life skills programs. For those in substance abuse recovery, life skills programs are often the best bridge to becoming a self-sufficient member of society. There are also people dealing with mental health issues and past trauma who can benefit. It can be beneficial to receive hands-on support from staff and the comfort of knowing that there are others like them.
Anyone who participates in a life skills program as part of recovery will find that the benefits are worth every moment of the program. The safe environment gives people a place to ask questions they may have previously felt uncomfortable asking. It creates a sense of well-being and compassion while also ensuring that everyone knows why they are there and their role.
Sober Life’s Life Skills Program
Sober Life offers its life skills program alongside its partial hospitalization program (PHP). This means that people can dip their toes back into society. But, at the same time, they can also return to their program with questions and concerns. Once again, this bridge is most effective when implemented in stages, with individuals not just being told what to do but shown what to do and observing others.
For those who have questions, knowledgeable staff is available and prepared to offer a level of care that teaches instead of coddles. Sober Life understands that adults must learn the necessary skills to feel that they can handle new challenges. That is what the program can impart to those who participate.
A key part of recovery at Sober Life is our life skills program. When you’re going through recovery, the prospect of rejoining society may feel overwhelming. When these feelings get in the way of your progress, it can be frustrating. However, when basic life skills are introduced into a program, it can act as a bridge between the program and reentering your life. The goal is to show you that even the most basic skills are worth doing properly. When life skills become second nature, they often pave the way for other types of healing. At Sober Life, we are proud to offer this program alongside our partial hospitalization program (PHP). For more information, call us at (619) 542-9542.
