Many articles about heroin recovery focus on the early stages and physical withdrawal symptoms. Recovery is a lifelong process and it encompasses physical, emotional, social, and cognitive changes and skills. RECO heroin treatment center Delray Beach focuses on holistic and experiential rehab for heroin dependency. Holistic rehab supports physical, emotional, and social changes that contribute to long-term recovery and help to prevent relapse. These are four of the biggest challenges people in heroin recovery experience:
Social Isolation and Stigma
Moreso than some other substances, heroin use disorder comes with a strong social stigma. There’s no “heroin aisle” in a convenience store. Few heroin addicts in recovery feel comfortable talking to people at work, school, or in their neighborhood about their recovery and substance use. RECO heroin treatment center Delray Beach‘s experiential rehab can offer coping skills to rebuild relationships outside the heroin world and help to reduce feelings of stigma and isolation.
Rebuilding Lost Relationships
Heroin use also leads to a loss of social relationships. Making the transition from the addicted world back to family, work, neighborhood, and friendships is a long journey. Rebuilding relationships is never an easy process. One of the biggest challenges of recovery involves making amends and rebuilding trust from broken promises or actual harm done.
Many people in recovery may also feel they have little in common with others who haven’t shared their experiences. Cutting one’s self off from non-using family or friends has the potential to harm recovery as much or more than hanging out with people who are still using heroin. Holistic recovery programs like RECO heroin treatment center Delray Beach offer skill-building and support to take the journey of rebuilding relationships substance-free.
Lack of Schedules and Coping Skills
Heroin use coping skills differ from work, community, and social skills. Whether completing residential treatment or intensive outpatient programs, heroin users in recovery require skills in establishing a sober schedule for daily living. After establishing a schedule, other challenges are returning to work, setting goals, and learning how to cope with daily stresses without turning to heroin.
Building coping skills requires practice and RECO heroin treatment center Delray Beach offers that practice through treatment, recovery, and relapse prevention programs which use principles of sound recovery. Each person’s recovery process is as unique as they are.
Although heroin use has increased in recent years and the public has grown more aware of the link between prescription opioid use and heroin, the social stigma surrounding heroin could be the most powerful of all the challenges related to addiction. A successful recovery involves meeting these challenges to live a sober, healthy life.