Alcohol addiction treatment begins with a detox and withdrawal phase which makes the patient vulnerable to relapse. Hence, professionals at rehab centers can help to avoid this situation. They can be with the patient throughout the process and provide them with necessary medication and therapies. But there’s one more thing a rehab professional can do-helping the patient set their long-term and short-term recovery goals.
Setting recovery goals act as motivation to get sober and maintain it for the rest of their lives. Here are a few long-term and short-term goals listed for reference.
Setting Up Long-Term Goals
Long-term recovery goals help the patient to visualize their lives once out of the rehab. These goals will let them shape their future which is free of addictive substances and focused on healthy living.
One might get overwhelmed while setting up long-term goals and come up with things that might then turn out to be difficult to achieve. Therefore, they must understand that long-term goals should be the ones that they feel they will be able to achieve. Also, patients should not use terms like “forever”, “never” or “always” as these can instill a feeling of fear, pressure, discouragement, obligation, guilt, etc. The long-term goals should be tangible, realistic, measurable, and personal.
These are a few long-term goals listed for your reference:
- Look for a new job and make a career
- Learn new skills, read and educate yourself further
- Get out of debt and seek assistance if needed
- Maintain a healthy diet, regular sleep schedule, etc.
- Volunteer and help others in recovery and elsewhere
These are only a few common goals, to begin with. Everyone has different aspirations and inspirations and can come up with different personal goals.
Setting Up Short-Term Goals
Your short-term goals will help you get and stay sober while you are at the recovery center. Long-term goals can be easy to list down but short-term goals might need assistance as they require immediate action soon after being listed down. The professionals at the center can help you with the same. Here are some short-term goals often listed by the patients:
- Discard all the contacts and items associated with drugs and alcohol
- Find a local support group or a recovery sponsor
- Focus on rebuilding bonds with people you want to stay within future
- Commit to doing something positive every day
- Try new activities or practice old passions
All these short-term goals can help the patient focus on sobriety while they are at the recovery center.
Achieving these goals might seem difficult especially when you are at an early stage of breaking free from the addiction. But it is not impossible and our experts at Mallard Lake Detox Center in Houston, Texas are always there to help you at every stage. Contact us now to get more details about the treatment programs.