What are relapse prevention and recovery management in terms of addiction recovery? These concepts are essential to understand once your teen has left formal treatment and is rebuilding their life after breaking free from addiction. In fact, before their teens leave their addiction treatment programs, parents and guardians need to create relapse prevention plans with their children. They must also know how to utilize recovery management services in order to avoid being in the same situation at a later time.
Being prepared for relapse is not a sign that you don’t trust your teen. Many people that seek professional help to break free from addiction will relapse within a year from them leaving their treatment programs. Recovery management services in North Carolina can help you avoid this situation. Contact Foothills at Red Oak Recovery today by calling 866.300.5275 or reaching out to our team online.
What Is a Relapse Prevention Plan?
A relapse prevention plan is a necessary tool for anyone in recovery. Having a plan helps your teen recognize their behaviors that may point to relapse in the future. It also outlines ways to combat those behaviors and get back on the path to recovery.
A relapse prevention plan is often a written document that someone in a formal treatment program creates with specialists and loved ones who support them. Involving these people in the creation of the plan makes it more effective.
Did you know that relapse is a three-part process? The stages in chronological order are emotional relapse, mental relapse, and physical relapse. With a relapse prevention plan, your teen can acknowledge and process certain feelings and thoughts to avoid a physical relapse.
What Are Recovery Management Services?
Most addiction treatment facilities that offer rehab programs also offer recovery management services. Recovery management services provide formal support that promotes the recovery and well-being of clients as they start to re-engage in their lives. These services can help someone who has completed an addiction treatment program return to school or work and the rest of their lives while offering the necessary accountability for early recovery.
Addiction can cause alterations in the brain in areas involving executive functioning, making teens in recovery experience poor decision-making and self-regulation. This can lead to difficulty maintaining sobriety despite having the motivation to change. Recovery management services help teens and recovering people of all ages deal with their executive functioning problems, especially during the first few months after formal treatment leave.
How Do You Create a Teen Relapse Prevention Plan?
Parents and guardians may only want to think of the best when their teens come back home. However, it is important to be prepared and be realistic. You should know what to do when your teen relapses. Parents and guardians must also understand that a relapse does not equate to failure. It is just a sign that your teen needs to take more steps to recover fully. Your teen’s relapse prevention plan and the recovery management services available to them should be topics that you discuss with your child as soon as they complete their addiction treatment program.
There are certain details your plan must include. First, you need someone to call who can help you deal with the aftermath of your teen relapsing. This can be your teen’s counselor or someone else invested in your teen’s recovery. Other items to include in the plan include:
- Hotline numbers or crisis lines
- List of safe places to go
- List of stress-relief practices
- Locations of local emergency services
- Schedule of local support group meetings
When parents first discover the relapse, they should call 911 right away or rush their teen to the ER. Teens are more prone to overdose when relapsing, and sometimes a relapse can even be fatal.
After your teen stabilizes, you should move them to a safe and supportive environment. You need to talk to your teen about the next step, which could be getting admitted into another addiction treatment program. While it can be tempting to send your teen back to formal treatment, your teen must also be part of the decision-making process. They may prefer outpatient treatment, which could be possible if also medically recommended.
Learn More About Foothills at Red Oak Recovery
If you’re looking for recovery management services in North Carolina, contact Foothills at Red Oak Recovery. Call 866.300.5275 or reach out to our team online.
