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What You Get From Attending a Support Group

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in 12 Step Program, Addiction Recovery. No Comments on What You Get From Attending a Support Group

After a person goes through detox for a drug or alcohol addiction, he or she can enter a treatment program and start the recovery process. Recovery is a life-long journey and it takes a  lot of hard work and determination for an individual to stay substance-free. Adjusting to a new lifestyle is very challenging, especially for the first several months of recovery.

When your loved one has a drug or alcohol addiction, he or she goes through many physical and mental changes. While they are using, his or her body becomes physically dependent on the substances. They can experience a variety of emotions like depression and anxiety. When the drug or alcohol use stops, withdrawals can make staying sober extremely painful and difficult.

Family and friends are affected by a loved one’s addiction. Trust is broken and relationships become damaged. During and after treatment, your loved one should go to support groups to cope with a substance-free lifestyle. Support groups are very important for you and your loved one. When you go to support groups, you show your loved one how much you care about him or her. Also, you are able to share your experience with others in similar situations and listen to other people share their struggles with their loved one’s addiction.

Support groups are a great resource and let you know that you are not alone. Many people in support groups can help you through difficult times. The recovery process is hard for the person who is addicted to drugs or alcohol as well as family and friends. Everyone affected by drug or alcohol addiction needs time to heal and relationships to mend.

A support group will allow you to find other people with problems similar to yours. They might offer practical advice to help you cope. When you attend regularly, you will gain a sense of empowerment and control and develop a clear understanding of what to expect. Attending a support group will help to reduce distress, depression, and fatigue. In addition, you will be able to talk honestly and openly about your feelings without judgment or feeling isolated.

Support groups are beneficial to everyone affected by drug or alcohol addiction. Attending a support group is essential to the recovery process for you and your loved one.

Treatment is the beginning of a beautiful journey of healing, transformation, discovery, and more. Enlightened Recovery Solutions offers partial care programs for substance abuse and co-occurring disorders, bringing together a harmonious balance of clinical, holistic, and 12-step philosophy. Call 833-801-5483 today for information.

Public Health Emergency

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in 12 Step Program, Drugs & Alcohol. No Comments on Public Health Emergency

There is an opioid epidemic happening right now and it’s killing people at an unprecedented rate. The President of the United States has made the declaration that this is a Public Health Emergency. However, there is still much to be done to receive actual results. While critical funding is being slashed from Medicaid and The National Institutes of Health, effort was put forth to tap the accounts dismal $57,000 of funding.

On average an inpatient treatment center cost $12,000-$60,000 for a 30-day stay. This is simply isn’t enough for the task at hand. To put things into perspective, in 2016 there had been 64,000 overdoses. Families across America are losing loved ones daily to this rampant disease.

Pain management can be a problematic for prescribing doctors across the US. The DEA has been cracking down doctor shopping yet the problem hasn’t slowed down. Prescription opioid deaths have quadrupled since 1999. However, the amount of pain reported has not seen much of any change. There’s something to say for personal responsibility, but something has to be done here to save some lives.

The federal government will be investing in non-addictive painkillers, and prevention. However, there progress has been minimal so far. Meanwhile, addicts are gaining tolerance for medications and having to find the drug on the streets. Often times, abuse starts off with legitimate use, followed by a slow progression of addictive behavior.

When opioids are combined with benzodiazepines and/or alcohol the rate of overdose increases. For those who cannot afford the pill form will resort to using heroin. This can either be administered orally or for faster relief through snorting crushed up pills, or intravenously. By sharing drug paraphernalia addicts transfer HIV, hepatitis, STDs, and other blood-borne diseases. These are only a few of the opioid risk factors and statistics that have shown to be the epitome of what’s going on without any real solution. Get help before it’s too late.

If you are struggling with opioids or you know of someone who is, there is help for you! Enlightened Recovery is a facility that will save your life. Don’t hesitate and call today: 833-801-5483.

Treating Bipolar Disorder

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in 12 Step Program, Mental Health. No Comments on Treating Bipolar Disorder

It is a common occurrence for those with bipolar to have the idea of going off prescribed medication when things seem to be going well. This is unfortunate because the medication is working and the person is stable at that time. The high from the mania can feel more freeing than the stability of baseline behavior.

Life during a manic episode can reach levels of complete unmanageability. There are greater highs and lows with longer periods in between. Those with bipolar II also have episodes that are disrupting in life, but the ups and downs are more consistent waves between baseline.

There needs to be acceptance of the diagnosis for there to be consistent medication management. One of the biggest issues with this diagnosis is the inconsistency of the regulating medication. If needed there should be someone to moderate and administer the medication. This may not be ideal, but until there is cooperation, there needs to be someone involved who understands the severity of the situation.

Manic-depressive episodes will interrupt a person’s whole life if medication is not taken properly. There are episodes that cause people to act out in ways that are not out of sync with their normal state. When stable again, there can be a feeling of dissociation to this “other” person. This is commonly linked to addiction due to the lapse in judgment.

For loved ones, there are ways that you can recognize bipolar disorder and begin to seek help. During a manic period, there may be a lack of sleep and increased amount of energy.  Many times there will be a surge of unfinished projects and excessive goals. Sexual behavior is also something to look out for as well.

These amongst other strange behaviors are all reason to check into a facility to begin balancing out on a mood stabilizer. There’s no need to live life with these unnecessary ups and downs when there is treatment. This particular untreated mental disorder is preventable if there is a willingness to get help. Sometimes all it takes is a second to look back at the erratic history to come to a realization and see clearly what’s the next right step.

If you are struggling with addiction, alcoholism, and/or mental health, do not lose help! Enlightened Solution’s partial program is designed to help you lead a full life with the love and joy you deserve. Don’t hesitate and take back your life today: 833-801-5483.

The Rooms of AA

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in 12 Step Program, Alcoholism. No Comments on The Rooms of AA

Becoming sober means more than getting the substance out of the someone’s system. To be given the gift of sobriety comes with a balance of giving back to those still in the disease. While someone is still abusing substances, there is a fair amount of disregard for others. Whether or not a person has the disease of addiction, there must be respect for all humankind alike if true happiness will ever exist. It is taught in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous how to begin down this path.

When people come into the AA program in all walks of life. Some have been beaten down to the core, while others unscathed. What all of its members have in common is the way the mind justifies and rationalizes its self-sabotaging actions. Often times, those with mental health also struggle with addiction. There are millions of personalities who come together in the rooms and relate to one another. There is a saying, “some are sicker than others.” This is true to some extent. However, all members are the same in the capacity that they seek the same solution.

Although different groups have different rules, there are one set of traditions. One of the more common rules is asking members to refrain from crosstalk. Unsolicited advice will not be tolerated in the group to help with conflicting personalities. Everyone has the right to their own opinion and there is no need to have members arguing about various matters. Despite members being asked to share experience, strength, and hope, people do get off topic. Having compassion for others is all apart of the process.

Members of AA who frequent meetings, will often find a group of friends who can relate on a deeper level. This is part of the reason to keep coming back. Seeing that it works for others who are going through similar circumstances, can spread hope and wisdom. When there are new members, it’s imperative for them that it is a comforting and welcoming experience. While learning how to live sober, members of AA will find themselves living more functioning and peaceful lives. Sobrieties a gift but a gift that must be reciprocated.

Enlightened Recovery clinical, holistic, and 12-step approach is a life-changing experience for people struggling with addiction, alcoholism and/or mental health. Come begin transforming your life in our partial program in New Jersey. Call now for more information and take back your life today! 833-801-5483.

Fentanyl Addicton

The Spiritual Program of the 12 Steps

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in 12 Step Program, Addiction. No Comments on The Spiritual Program of the 12 Steps

Many people enter recovery, only after colliding with an experience so challenging, that they become willing to consider a new way of life.  This experience is commonly called a “bottom”. Despite having reached new lows in their life, they still desire to place bounds around what their recovery does and does not include. Often, those boundaries involve the desire to live without embracing a spiritual life.  

Many people arrive to 12 Step programs insisting on recovery without ‘the spiritual part of the program.’ They do not yet understand that the entire program is spiritual.  On the surface, it appears that some aspects, like fellowship and service,  do not require an active spirituality.  Once intimacy with these aspects is experienced, it is apparent that these are also spiritual in nature.

Fellowship, experienced in many ways, includes a lifestyle of maintaining close relationships with people in recovery.  As with all relationships, conflict arises and a crossroads is faced.  The invitation to choose unity with our fellows over whatever indignity is extended.  This crossroads is the same that is faced in the bottom – do we choose the pattern that feels comfortable in the moment or do we choose the path of action that enables longevity for both our own and AA’s well-being?

Service, at its core, is the journey of taking another addict through the 12 Steps which is called sponsorship.  The point of the 12 steps is to have a spiritual awakening sufficient to produce a psychic change.  This is the only means by which an addict will become and remain sober.  Since the service involved in the 12 Steps is about facilitating a spiritual awakening for another sufferer, it is imperative that this experience can be sourced from within.  It is thereby impossible to deliver on the 12th Step without participating in the spiritual ‘part’ of the program.  

There are other kinds of service in the recovery program that do not involve sponsorship and are seemingly free from direct spirituality.  However, there is an imperative to participate in sponsorship to maintain recovery as only one alcoholic talking to another.  It can also be said that other types of service, the sacrifice of self to be in service to another or to the collective is an inherently spiritual expression.  

If you are struggling with addiction, alcoholism, and/or mental health, know that there is hope. There is a solution. Harmoniously fusing together the best elements of clinical care, holistic healing, and 12-step philosophy, Enlightened Recovery has created a program of total transformation for men and women seeking recovery. Call 833-801-5483 today for information on our partial care programs in New Jersey.

The Sponsor/Sponsee Roles in AA’s 12-Step Program

Written by Enlightened Recovery on . Posted in 12 Step Program, Addiction, Drugs & Alcohol. No Comments on The Sponsor/Sponsee Roles in AA’s 12-Step Program

There are many different support groups in the game of addiction. The few that fall into a similar category include Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Cocaine Anonymous (CA), Overeaters Anonymous (OA), Al-Anon, Codependents Anonymous (CODA). These all follow a 12-step program. Upon early recovery, it’s suggested to attend meetings daily. While finding meetings that fit, it’s important to keep an eye out for a sponsor. A sponsor is defined as another member who takes the sponsee through the 12 steps. A sponsee would be defined as a new member to the program or a member that wants to repeat the steps. A new member or newcomer should look for a sponsor that has what they want for themselves. This can mean a few different things that include happiness, spirituality, healthy relationships and so on. It’s suggested for the sponsee to interview the potential sponsor before entering an agreement that may as well be doomed from the start. Here are a few questions a sponsee might consider asking:

  • What is expected of me?
  • Do you have a call time? (A time each day to call)
  • How quickly will we be going through the steps?

Now that the sponsee has chosen the right fit. It’s time to establish boundaries. There are certain roles the sponsor may not feel comfortable playing. Bringing the family into the recovery of the alcoholic, or any other member seeking help should be not be taken lightly. There are boundaries that can be crossed left and right. It’s wise to make them clear from the start. That’s not saying the family should not be involved in recovery. The 12-steps were built to release the person suffering from the bondage of whatever addiction that may be. It is a sensitive topic that not everyone wants their family being apart of every step of the way. The information must be kept confidential between the sponsee and sponsor to maintain trust. That being said, the sponsor/sponsee relationship is about the sponsee. The sponsor will most times be there for the sponsee during hard times and make suggestions. The sponsor will take the sponsee down a path that they had followed themselves to get sober. This is meant to keep the sponsor sober, thus the beauty of the program. The sponsee must follow suggestions and do the 12 steps to remain spiritually fit and on the road to recovery.

Enlightened Recovery encourages our patients to take advantage of AA’s 12 step program. Our partial program will give the addict the ability to find what works for them our their journey to recovery. Given the opportunity to connect with the community is a life skill we believe in here in New Jersey. Please call for more information: 833-801-5483.

Why Drugs and Alcohol Block the “Sunlight of the Spirit”

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The expression ‘Sunlight of the Spirit’ comes from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and refers to a state of being that occurs when we are free from our resentments.  Resentments are sometimes referred to as the re-feeling of an experience.  Put another way, it is when we continue to have feelings about situations or people that are not occurring in the present moment.  The process of writing an inventory is a wonderful opportunity to get present to all the ways that you are not fully living in the present! It is through this process that we become the sunlight of the spirit.  

When we are living life in resentments, we are not living life in the present moment.  If we are to live a recovered life, in a state free from being beholden to our addiction, then we must do the daily work necessary to live in the present moment.  This state is accessible through the 12-steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, particularly the inventory steps 4-9 in combination with Step 10.  Steps 4-9 allow us to become clear of the past and Step 10 allows to stay clear as we live our life forward from our initial clearing.  

It is this process of becoming clear and staying clear that allows us to become the Sunlight of the Spirit.  It allows us to become a channel of the divine as we are now clear to listen for the guidance of our Higher Power and to serve as this power directs us.  As we live in this essence of being fully present and being a channel of the divine, it is then that we are able to carry the message to others and to remain free from our addiction.  

The expression, Sunlight of the Spirit, is a tremendously accurate metaphor for the ongoing work of a successful recovery model.  As the sun must rise and set each day, so must we both be connected internally to our source of inspiration and also share outwardly with others.  So to fully embrace the sunlight of the spirit in our lives, we must find this daily flow of spiritual connection and service to others.  

Enlightened Recovery Solutions offers a harmonious approach to holistic treatment, bringing together the best of evidence-based, alternative, and 12-step therapies. Call us today for information on our transformation programs of treatment for addiction and alcoholism: 833-801-5483.

Monkey See, Monkey Do: Social Cognitive Therapy and Sponsorship in 12 Step Programs

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We are told to stick with the winners in recovery. We look for the people who stay “in the middle of the herd”, go to meetings, regularly work on themselves and have what we want in our recovery. Most often we don’t know what we want in recovery within those first six months. We know that we’d really rather not relapse, but we are still learning how to make sure that doesn’t happen, one day at a time. We’re told to ask questions, take suggestions, and have a minimal amount of our own ideas, because they aren’t quite sharp enough yet to be helpful. Instead, we look to others. We watch their behaviors and observe their mannerisms.

Carefully, we listen to what they see and interpret their perspective of recovery. Some people we really enjoy and are inspired by. Other people we really do not enjoy and are quite turned off by. In response to the people we find inspiring, we take on some of their recovery behaviors and start to mirror them. By watching them and observing them we learn about what they do and how they do it. Without much else knowledge we start to mirror those behaviors, like a monkey see, monkey do. After a short amount of time we find that we feel better in these behaviors and that they have helped us change and grow.

Part of this is based on social cognitive theory. In the rooms of 12-step recovery, we change and we grow according to learning from others or “old timers”. Treatment programs like our program at Enlightened Recovery Solutions includes sponsorship and guidance among program participants. Participants a phase ahead lead the way and mentor those behind them. Each client leads an example and blazes a path for those to follow and so forth.

Social cognitive therapy uses the idea of learning from behavior and environment to create change in oneself and one’s environment. At Enlightened Recovery, we have an environmental culture of nature and adventure where clients learn to work together and problem solve in real time. Learning from their mentors and peers, they are able to observe and adopt behaviors which work for recovery.

 

Enlightened Recovery Solutions is a 12 step focused holistic health treatment program bringing together the best of clinical and alternative healing. Our treatment programs are the perfect extended care option for men and women seeking progress and transformation.

For information on our healing programs, call 888-234-LIVE today.

The Transcendental Experience Of The 12 Steps

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William James wrote Varieties of Religious Experience in which he closely examined the many ways people experience spirituality and religion. The authors of Alcoholics Anonymous who drafted the 12 steps were heavily influenced by James’ work. In appendix ii, titled “Spiritual Experience” of the book, the authors cite James and his perspective on the “educational variety” of spiritual experiences, “Most of our experiences are what the psychologist William James calls the ‘educational variety’ because they develop slowly over time.” Working the 12 steps has a distinct purpose: to have a spiritual experience. In doing so, the authors believed, a person can be so inspired that they won’t pick up a drink or a drug again, and that they will commence to live a life progressing along spiritual lines. It’s “the personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism” the authors believe happens as a result of a spiritual experience.

Transformation and change through transcendental experiences is not new. Prayer, meditation, and other forms of spiritual ritual have been poetically described as ecstatic or bringing about ecstasy. People feel connected to something bigger than themselves when they are in the midst of a spiritual experience. From feelings of unity, a primary theme in AA, to feelings of awe and inspiration, they experience a momentary pause in time where the many concerns of their humanity slip away. For alcoholics, this is a priceless experience. Alcoholism is larger than life. Caught within the man-made world, being trapped in the vertigo of alcoholism is remarkably limiting. Isolation, separation, and delusion create a hardened barrier between an alcoholic and their ability to remain curious about life. The spiritual experience is not novel as a solution to alcoholism.

Being struck by something so inspiring as to create a life-altering change like not picking up a drink or a drug again is a profound experience, proven by science. Research shows that transcendental spiritual experiences which take someone out of self and into a realm of understanding beyond the self has a long-term effect. Studies have found that their are higher levels of being content with life, feeling more meaning in life, and greater senses of bonding to others after a spiritual experience. This is no more evidenced than a career alcoholic of many years spending a few months in meetings working the steps with a sponsor and coming to realize they never have to drink again. Alcoholics, renown for their selfishness and self-centeredness, are able to gain the perspective necessary to realize their alcoholism, their recovery, and their lives, are about more than them. The 12 steps focus on service for this reason- to essentially pass the pathway toward transcendence to others.

 

The Big Book states that “…any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts.” At Enlightened Recovery, we are integrating the spiritual experience of the 12 steps into every facet of our program. From evidence based clinical practices to healing holistic treatments, our comprehensive partial care programs are effective in changing lives for the better.

Call us for more information on our dual diagnosis treatment programs: 833-801-5483.

Jennifer Shipman

When A 12 Step Group Becomes Your Higher Power

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Twelve step programs advocate for a spiritual experience. By the time one reaches the twelfth step they should have had a “spiritual awakening” as a result, empowering them to carry the message to other alcoholics. The term “God” is used throughout texts, steps, and literature for twelve step groups like the founding group Alcoholics Anonymous. “God” is the “group consciousness” of a Higher Power which everyone is meant to define for themselves in their own understanding. Coming to define a higher power which one might call God takes time. For some it is an uncomfortable journey which could be described more as a struggle. Fully turning to and believing in a God of one’s own understanding is a process. Throughout that process, one continues to go to meetings, listen to other more experienced alcoholics or addicts in recovery, and get a sense of their higher power and relationship to it. In the beginning months of recovery, twelve step groups act as many people’s higher power. Going to meetings, talking with others, sharing about their experience- it’s something they can see, touch, hear, and believe in. “GOD” becomes a symbol for: Group Of Drunks.

Attending meetings is meant to be part of someone’s life and part of their recovery. Recovery is a multifaceted lifestyle which should confront all three areas of necessary healing: mind, body, and spirit. Twelve step meetings can have such a profound effect on people that they make it a priority. Whatever you put before your recovery, it is often said, you are going to lose. People tend to take this too literally and put their recovery, specifically their twelve step group program, above everything else. While this “keeps” them sober, keeps them involved, and keeps them away from harmful behaviors which could lead to relapse, it can also keep them away from other important areas of life. Recovery is not meant to be about living in fear of relapse or the many things which could inspire relapse. After all, anyone could walk into a twelve step meeting and offer up a drink or a drug. The true purpose of recovery is to be equipped to live life one life’s terms. Life’s largest term and greatest demand is simply to be lived.

Is there a psychological problem or any major risk when a twelve step program becomes someone’s higher power? Compared to the alternatives, no. However, there is more to life than twelve step meetings and more that recovery has to offer.

We want to help you heal through an integrative treatment program which approaches mind, body, and spirit. Our intentions at Enlightened Recovery Solutions is to prepare you to walk a spiritual path to absolute abundance in all areas of life, free from mind altering substances. Call us today for more information at 833-801-5483.