A drug rehabilitation Waukegan is an incredible accomplishment, and a necessary step in recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, but the hard work doesn’t stop there. By many accounts, life after rehab is even tougher: facing old friends, work, bills, old patterns and old demons, it’s tough work and involves a million little choices each day to walk the path of sobriety. Could a recovering addict in Waukegan benefit from a drug rehab alumni program?
What is a rehab alumni group?
In the past, a substance addiction Waukegan center didn’t sponsor alumni groups, but they got started on their own anyway. Groups would graduate together from a program and then decide to keep meeting to support one another. Support led to better long-term success. Facilities themselves started to take note: some rehabs now have a full-time alumni program director.
Facility-sponsored programs provide a network of support for alumni, beyond just social gatherings.
Rehab Alumni Programs
Facilities with a drug rehab in Waukegan alumni program offer many benefits and services to graduates, including:
- Meeting and networking between recent graduates and those who have been clean or sober for longer periods of time
- Community connection opportunities for services graduates may require. Needs of graduates vary widely, and connecting with another is a great way to hear about opportunities and services in the community from a peer.
- Sober activities/clean fun, helping graduates build a social life in recovery
- Graduates who have succeeded in sobriety get to share successes with more recent graduates, keeping the wheel turning
Just like the old saying, “When you teach, you learn,”alumni programs also offer the opportunity for rehab graduates to continue to give back and continue to support the success of others. In reaching out to one another in such a way, rehab alumni continue to support rolling groups of graduates, learning for themselves as they share with one another.
Don’t have one, start one!
The data is slowly gathering. Long-term research projects are difficult to fund, so little research across many years in multiple facilities on rehab alumni programs, hasn’t really been done. Through online communities, though, successful alumni groups have made their voices heard.
Continuing to connect with the graduates of your rehab program, through an alumni group has lasting benefits. If such a group doesn’t already exist at your facility in the Waukegan area, start one! Graduates from your program can plan at least a monthly outing with other graduates, and expand from there.