If you mention “rehab” to someone, nine times out of ten, their first response isn’t going to be a positive one. Culturally, substance abuse treatment is viewed along the same lines as a jail sentence. A stripping of your freedom and a forced placement in an isolated setting. While treatment may be depicted that way in tv and movies, it is rarely that way in real life. Keep reading to find out five ways treatment at Country Road Recovery is changing the narrative and just might change your life for the better.
Making Lifelong Friends
Fellowship is a word often thrown around in certain 12-step programs and within the recovery community as a whole. But what does it actually mean? The word is defined as, “companionship; a company of equals or friends; friendly association, especially with people who share one’s interests.” Fellowship, in practice, is the formation of an unbreakable bond between people who have gone through the same hardships. It is finding kindred spirits - the people that understand you even when you feel like you don’t understand yourself. It’s fair to say that most people don’t go to rehab thinking they’re going to be making best friends with some of the people there. But at the core of addiction is isolation and humans are social animals. If addiction is isolation then recovery is community - it is fellowship.
Spending Time in Nature
Movies that depict treatment show people spending 30 days inside a hospital like setting and never seeing the sun. Country Road understands the therapeutic value of nature and encourages their residents to get outside, move around and breathe fresh air. To that end, they take regular trips out to the Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge to hike Mt. Scott as a group. Not only is it nice to get off campus and be outside, but it creates a sense of camaraderie and communal achievement. The nice thing about Country Road though is that you don’t even have to leave campus to spend time outdoors. With over two miles of hiking trails, a fishing pond and ample woods to roam in, you’ve got plenty of space to move about, reflect, and get back to the basics.
Fun in Recovery Group
At Country Road, every Friday all the residents get to participate in a Fun in Recovery group. This group gets together and goes off campus to do something fun. It might be going to a movie, visiting a local museum, walking through the zoo, or something else the group decides on. Too often recovery is viewed as a boring lifestyle devoid of any fun or pleasure at all. The Fun in Recovery group is meant to combat that stereotype. Recovery is more than just abstaining from substances. It’s about making new friends, having new experiences, and actively participating in the world around you. It’s about living a life worth living!
Equine Therapy
One of the benefits of being in a rural setting is that Country Road has space for hoses. Equine therapy is offered weekly to residents and gets them off main campus and out to the stables. Horses have been scientifically proven to have a therapeutic effect on humans. Helping with everything from addiction and anxiety to trauma and PTSD, equine therapy moves the clinical setting outdoors and directly in touch with nature. There is something unique about working with a horse. It’s a therapeutic experience not everyone gets to have in their life.
Pretaa
Country Road is dedicated to providing the best care possible to every person they treat. Part of that commitment is their utilization of Pretaa, a wearable device (like a watch) that tracks activity, steps, sleep, oxygen levels, heart rate, and skin temperature among others. It’s like having your vitals on record without ever having to step into the doctor's office. It also offers a number of self-reported assessments that help to track anxiety, cravings, and behavior. When used in combination with the biometric data, Pretaa can provide a much more accurate and comprehensive understanding of a person's physical and psychological state than anything measured by standard means. It also allows for your counselor to spend more time working with you 1-on-1 and less time on paperwork.
The journey to recovery is an intricate and personal tapestry woven with diverse threads. Country Road's commitment to providing therapeutic and out-of-the-box experiences reflects our belief in the uniqueness of each individual's path. Each experience is designed to educate, inspire, and ultimately guide individuals toward profound self-discovery and lasting transformation. Your recovery journey is the evolving narrative of your life. Make the story a good one!
If you or a loved one is ready for treatment, call Country Road Recovery today.