Dharmabum2012

Hi Guys, so tomorrow I am checking myself into an outpatient treatment clinic. I wont be having to do any detox, but I am nervous. There's daily group activities, counseling, doctors available etc. It still isn't real in my head that I have a problem even know I am constantly admitting it, I hope this will solidify it. Any tips on your first meeting or treatment group?
PS: I think its a screening interview and a referral for their services, not the actual therapy

Vandermast

the only advise I would have for you is to immerse yourself in the process and grab on to a marvellous opportunity to change your life.

best wishes

v

Anna

I didn't do outpatient treatment, but I think anything that helps you on the road to recovery is a good thing. I hope it goes well.

gypsytears

Go with an open mind and willingness to get better. I did an IOP but it was only a few hours once a week. Intake and appts with the Drs & counsellors were first order of business as I recall. Group meetings, Drs sessions, random drug screens... It's a great start on the road to recovery if you let it be. Good for choosing it!

Dee74

Best wishes DB

D

Ruby2

I did out patient and in patient. Get immersed in what is going on. Actively Participate by talking, listening and sharing. There will probably be some people who are only there because they are feeling judicial heat. Many of them treat the process as a joke. I tended to avoid them when I was in treatment. I was there willingly, knowing it was an opportunity to heal. I enjoyed it.

In both in patient and out patient people tended to get all "rah, rah" enthusiastic about maintaining contact with each other after they finished. A word of caution that this is fine but of all the people I met in either in or out patient treatment, my husband is the only one I keep in contact with and I don't recommend treatment as a place to find a spouse. So be cautious of that too.

As I said above, I found it worth it. It's okay to be nervous going in but it wasn't scary once I got there.

Dharmabum2012

Thanks , I while back I kidded myself out of AA or outpatient treatment thinking I was fine, I am hoping this solidifies my commitment to sobriety once and for all

EndGameNYC

I went to IOP and then regular outpatient following inpatient detox and rehab. All of them helped me a great deal, if for nothing else than that I couldn't drink while I was there. And I would have if I could have. I needed the rest, I needed a healthy break from what had become my reality (escapism is greatly underrated), and I needed to recover physically without worrying about the rest of my life. I was also attending AA every day for the first seven months. I stomped out my fears like a cigarette butt, and just did what I was asked to do. For me, arguing over the existence of God, finding flaws in the treatment or distancing myself from others because "we're all different" would have been an act of arrogance of the highest order for me. Besides, the three years of daily, round-the-clock drinking in the face of serious and mounting losses prior to treatment fully demonstrated that I was the last person on the planet to decide what was good for me. I just put one foot in front of the other.

I didn't intend on getting sober from detox through much of OP treatment, but just being in each treatment facility kept me as safe and sound as possible until I finally chose sobriety and then cooperated with my own recovery.

I don't necessarily like putting it this way, but I eventually separated myself in treatment from those who were just going through the motions, and not very gracefully at that...whether they were there as a result of an ultimatum from their wives or their employers, or because they were court mandated. The continuing and persistent dishonesty of it all made me want to puke, seeing myself in other people the way I did. I got some flak from guys who weren't really there to get sober when I opened my mouth in groups, but what could anyone else have done to me that would have been worse than what I'd done to myself? Besides, treatment is a wasted gift if all you do is sit there and listen.

You get what you put into it.