kerry22

I know the most important thing is the therapy and AA meetings when you start rehab. But im just curious if they other activities when you are not in therapy. I know some are different then others. But i know i won't be in counseling and therapy all day all the time. I don't go till tuesday and have to work till then. So i won't have time to take a tour. But i was just wondering if anybody could share what they thought of their rehab expierence. Im going to Valley Hope and hear good things about it.

j'ade d'arcy

Hi Kerry. Congrats on your choice to go to rehab. For me, it was one of the best things I could have done for my recovery. Actually, I think it was key in helping me to stay sober for this long.

It's probably pretty different at each facility, but I will tell you a bit about the one that I attended here in Canada.

Up at seven, breakfast than an hour break that was usually used for doing chores. Then group all morning on topics like emotions, histories of personal usage, AA, etc. Lunch at noon, free time for one hour when we could sign out and leave the facility to run errands on a sign out basis. Group all afternoon and one hour before dinner to work on assignments from the topics we were working on that day. Dinner at five, one hour free time to spend with visitors in-house or out. Then evening AA meeting. In bed by nine and lights out by ten.

Took a couple of days to get used to getting up at seven and being in bed by ten, and I sure grumbled about it, but there are reasons that they set these guidelines. Most addicts and alcoholics have little structure in their day to day lives while using. I know that was the case for me, so living in a very structured environment for that time was good for me.

I also found that by week into treatment, I was so tired from the emotional work all day that I wanted to be in bed by nine!!

I hope this helps a little and wish you the best of luck in your search for recovery!!

lulu70

I imagine each treatment center is different, but at mine, a typical day would go something like this:

7:00 am Morning meditation (we would talk about our plans/goals for the day, pray together, etc.)

7:30 am Exercise class

8:00 am Breakfast

9-11 am Group therapy

11-12:30 am Lunch

12:30-4:30 pm Class time (Class subjects ranged from relapse prevention to parenting-it was a women's treatment center-to relationships to dual-diagnosis)

4:30-6:00 pm Dinner and free-time

6:00-8:30 pm More classes or in-house meetings

8:30 pm Evening meditation (talk about our day, did we reach our goals? pray/practice positive affirmations)

9:00 pm House chores (keeping the center clean and picked up!)

10:30 pm Bed time

11:00 pm Lights out


That is pretty much it! It was a very long day. I don't know if I have ever been as tired as I was when I was in treatment, but it kept me busy and really gave me a jump-start on my recovery. I will look forward to hearing about how it went for you!!

Hugs--

tyler

Been to rehab twice, the experiences that have already been described are pretty typical, the first place I went to followed those schedules more or less. The second place I went to was different, it was a "Holistic" rehab. We still did all of the "usual" things already mentioned, but we also mixed in the gym, acupuncture, yoga, karate, hypnosis, nutrition classes, massage (cost extra), steam and suna, colinics (cost extra), and some "normal" outside activities like going to the movies, water park, etc. It was much more unstructured that your typical rehab, and focused more on living a "sober" life in the "real world". We were allowed to have computers, cell phones, we lived in a house (two to a room still!!) had a tv we could watch, could have our own music, etc. There was a convience store only a few blocks away where they sold beer and the gate was unlocked, but hey, that's what the real world is like. It was a very different experience, and probably not for everyone, but I learned a lot. Hope you have a positive experience too. Take care.

got_2loveme

Hi Kerry, I certainly believe a treatment facility to be benificial to ones recovery. I know that when I finally got the program this time, after 2 different treatment centers & being hospitalized 4 times between the 2. I was & will always be forever grateful for my last treatment center. I think that the 1st treatment center that I went to was way to laid back. For a drug addict like myself. I was able to slack off, and even during "classes" I still found ways to manipulate & take advantage of the system of this treatment center. It is what were here in Michigan - when referring to that particular treatment center - like to call "The Country Club".

The last treatment center that I was in was way more disciplined. And, in the 1st week of being there - I wanted to be completely condescending & compare what this most recent treatment center lacked, compared to what the "Country Club" (if you will) - gave me at my beck & call.

You see, I have gotten to the core of my disease - which is complete & utter selfcenteredness. That's why it makes sense today, what I was so ungrateful for in the past. And why I couldn't get this program to work for me. BECAUSE I CHOSE TO NOT DO THE WORK. I came into the rooms of NA & AA. I made a decision to follow the path of the "NA WAY". What I failed to realize is that WE FOLLOW THE SAME PATH AS AA. And I chose to remain "very" closeminded to the entirety of this.

Today, now that I say "I don't know" more then anything else, because it keeps me openminded, and helps me to acknowledge the world & people for who they are & where there at. I want to pick people apart sometimes. I want to look at differences rather then similarities. Today however, I can recognize these behaviors of mine & work towards changing them. They have decreased during my (almost) 7mths in this program. I am kinda getting of track here. I'm just very passionate when it comes to carrying the message - so I suppose what I am trying to say is - this program of 12 steps (no matter what fellowship you choose to work the steps from - I choose AA - but I found my "family" at NA) - these 12 steps are the ONLY solution to fix our brains. I don't know what "kind" of an addict anyone else is (degrees of sickness & rates of recovery - tell me that were all on different levels) but I do know that we share a common bond called addiction & a common solution called the 12 steps. But it is ONLY through "understanding & application " that they work. They program works for those of us that pick up the spiritual tools that have been laid at our feet. God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and we just have to do the foot work -

"NA took me out of the lifestyle - God took the lifestyle out of me". . .