Holistic approaches to relapse prevention focus on building social support and implementing stress management techniques so that when you are triggered, you are able to recognize your emotions for what they are and not allow them to control you. Let’s explore some of the holistic approaches you can expect in recovery.
Holistic Approaches to Relapse Prevention
There are several forms of holistic approaches to relapse prevention, many of which have overlapping benefits.
Equine Therapy
Equine Therapy is a popular holistic approach that helps prevent relapse by providing clients with a strong emotional foundation during treatment.
With equine therapy addiction treatment services, clients have a chance to build a relationship with horses, spend time with them, care for them, and develop personal responsibility. Interacting with animals, especially horses, helps improve things like:
- Assertiveness and confidence
- Boundary setting
- Increased focus
- Emotional equilibrium
- Reduced negative emotions
- Better non-verbal communication skills
- Improved resilience
- Connection
- Relaxation
- Mindfulness
Resilience
One of the skills curated through holistic approaches like Equine Therapy is resilience. Resilience is your ability to bounce back from struggles or challenges in life.
Resilience can be cultivated through artistic expression, social support, laughter, increased responsibility, motivation, and several other coping skills that we emphasize at Ava Recovery, a drug rehab in Austin, Texas.
Increased resilience means that when you face unexpected stress during or after treatment, it won’t cause an emotional upheaval that immediately results in relapse. Instead, you’ll learn to recognize the emotions you are feeling, such as stress or anxiety, and simply let them be without trying to suppress or ignore them.
This resiliency means that smaller stresses or triggers that may have otherwise led to a relapse will not be nearly as powerful or detrimental to you, and the more you practice coping skills that build your resilience, the less of an impact these stresses will have.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is one of the more popular holistic approaches to relapse prevention. Mindfulness goes hand in hand with building resilience, and it’s a skill that can be built during treatment, like equine therapy.
Mindfulness teaches you to be present. Too often, people struggle to remain present in the moment because they are preoccupied with worries about the future or negative emotions associated with past mistakes. They go over things in their mind repeatedly that have already happened, or they go over worries about something that may or may not happen in the future.
Mindfulness provides an opportunity for clients to bring their focus back to the present, to recognize what emotions they are feeling in the present moment, and to accept these emotions no matter what they are.
Yoga
Mindfulness also provides the ability to sit with discomfort. This is a skill that can be strengthened with physical activity, especially yoga, where you learn to sit with temporary discomfort by way of holding physical poses or breathing in a specific manner.
When you learn to sit with discomfort and recognize that all discomfort, whether it’s physical pain or emotional distress, is temporary, you don’t work as hard to try to suppress or ignore negative feelings. It’s this attempt at suppressing or ignoring negative feelings that often leads to relapse.
How to Choose the Right Treatment for Relapse Prevention
Holistic approaches to relapse prevention can incorporate several forms of evidence-based practices at a facility that offers the right treatment for you.
The right treatment will incorporate the following:
- Master clinicians and licensed therapists with experience in the type of holistic approach that you receive
- Levels of holistic treatment designed for substance abuse or dual diagnosis for those who need coping skills to manage mental health and addiction triggers
- Social support networks to help build long-term support, such as participation in 12-step programs or 12-step alternatives
Building Holistic Approaches to Relapse Prevention with Ava Recovery
At Ava Recovery, we believe that everyone who is looking for a way to avoid a relapse will find the help they need. Our facility specializes in evidence-based practices for all levels of care, including:
- Detox
- Residential care
- Outpatient care
We offer a one-to-one staff-to-client ratio to provide individualized care, ensuring that each client is noticed and heard. We also offer dual diagnosis treatment in Austin, Texas, for those who need treatment for mental health disorders in addition to substance abuse.
Overall, holistic approaches to relapse prevention offer clients the skills and tools they need to sit with discomfort, accept their emotions both good and bad, and learn to better cope with stress. All of these skills enable clients to avoid letting small setbacks push them to self-medicate with drugs or alcohol.
Don’t wait to get help. Call Ava Recovery at 833-330-3009 or text us at 512-399-2115.
