Recovery Roadmap: Steps to Achieving and Maintaining Sobriety

Recovery Roadmap: Steps to Achieving and Maintaining Sobriety

Recovery from addiction is a process. You did not become addicted to drugs or alcohol within a day, so recovery from addiction is not an overnight process. The only way to overcome your addiction is becoming willing to do the work, learning a new way of life. Our comprehensive addiction treatment was designed to follow guests from medical detox and onward— throughout the stages of the recovery process. Drug and alcohol addiction requires attention to physical health, mental or behavioral health, and spiritual health. The National Institute on Drug Abuse identifies four stages of rehabilitation for alcohol and drug addiction, the four stages include: treatment initiation, early abstinence, maintaining abstinence, and advanced recovery. The four stages of recovery are reached at varying times in one’s recovery, with each person having a personal pathway of recovery that applies to them. In order to better understand the recovery process, please read in-depth about the four stages below.

A breakdown of the four stages of recovery:

Treatment Initiation

This first stage is often a pre contemplation stage, where the addiction is recognized and treatment options are explored. This stage exists to represent the decision to seek treatment, putting a plan in place to move forward with the receiving of addiction treatment. When in this stage, those reaching out for help will consider: which treatment options will work best for them, which options support mental health, treatment programs for substance use disorder that have the services they need for their best addiction recovery. This first stage is an action stage; where decisions are made that will truly begin the recovery process.

Early Abstinence

After making a commitment to treat your alcohol or substance abuse, you will enter the early abstinence stage of recovery. This stage normally begins during a medical detox, and is characterized by withdrawal symptoms, physical cravings, psychological anguish, and a range of emotions. The early abstinence stage is often the hardest stage to go through in recovery, which is why clients/patients need professionals to help and support them. In this second stage of recovery, patients will learn various coping skills to manage their hardships and regulate their emotional health.

Maintaining Abstinence

The stage of maintaining abstinence is reached roughly after ninety days of continuous sobriety. During this stage, patients will learn relapse prevention and be educated about their personal warning signs for a relapse. Patients/clients should continue behavioral therapies, group therapies, individual therapy, and other therapeutic activities like adventure therapy and activity therapy. Individuals should truly put their coping skills and tools to use as they learn how to live in a different way. This third stage can also be called the preparation stage, as individuals are being prepared for independence. Individual should be able to find a balance between therapy, work, life, and recovery. This stage is long term, and is often also referred to as the maintenance stage. Recovering addicts will still reach out to their support network countless times throughout all stages of recovery, but especially this stage.

Advanced Recovery

Advanced recovery occurs after about five years of sobriety. In this final stage of recovery, you will be using coping skills and tools regularly to manage the fulfilling life that you have built in sobriety. This stage of recovery shows the transformations you have made to live a happy, healthy, meaningful, and successful life in sobriety. All of the insight you gained will continue you on the path of continuously bettering yourself. Recovering addicts or alcoholics may choose to continue on their recovery with 12 step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Gambler’s Anonymous, etc.

Stories of Recovery

• The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
  Oliver VG
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• On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
  Johan B
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• I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
  Carla S
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• "Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
  Angelique J
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