The holidays should be a joyous time for everyone, but for recovering addicts, this time of the year can be a struggle.
Delray Beach, Florida (PRWEB) November 28, 2013
The holiday season is a time of joy, merriment and indulgence. Americans indulge in elaborate family feasts and holiday parties with friends and co-workers, which often offer endless amounts of alcohol. But for recovering drug and alcohol addicts, the holiday season can cause stress and anxiety, with unforeseen triggers that can push some to the brink of relapse.
The experts at New Found Life of Delray Beach, an innovative treatment and recovery center in Florida, know that addiction recovery is a personal journey that requires a constant maintenance of sobriety – this is even more important during the holidays.
New Found Life of Delray Beach has published a guide, titled “Effective Holiday Relapse Prevention Strategies,” to assist recovering addicts in navigating the temptation-filled holiday season.
“The holidays should be a joyous time for everyone, but for recovering addicts, this time of the year can be a struggle,” said Michael Watt. “We hope this guide will help recovering addicts to enjoy the holiday cheer, while still maintaining their hard-earned sobriety.”
According to the guide, the first step in preparing for the holidays is to create a holiday trigger list. Recovering addicts should update their list of emotional, situational and physical triggers, focusing on the specifics of the holiday season.
Possible holiday triggers could include: office parties, family dinners, finances, loneliness, or an annual Christmas party with old friends. Alcohol steadily flows throughout most holiday events, and drama can also be at an all-time high at these types of gatherings. Or, for those who do not have extended families or large groups of friends, the absence of holiday parties can be very lonely, which is difficult emotionally. In addition to all of these obstacles, many people find the holidays to be very trying financially, which can cause even more emotional stress.
Once a holiday-specific trigger list has been formulated, New Found Life of Delray Beach recommends that recovering addicts also update their relapse prevention plan with specific activities and stress management techniques relating to the holidays. The relapse prevention plan should concentrate on curbing any type of overindulgence.
A sample prevention plan includes: planning out an exercise routine, maintaining a healthy diet, reaching out to support systems, increasing weekly meetings, creating a budget, or saying “no thank you” to invitation for events that could present dangerous triggers.
Preparing for the holiday season with a trigger list and relapse prevention plan can help recovering drug and alcohol addicts to stay sober, not only during this time of the year, but for the rest of their lives.
To read “Effective Holiday Relapse Prevention Strategies” in full, please visit http://nflfl.com/effective-holiday-relapse-prevention-strategies.