What is the Treatment for Alcoholics? If you’ve been through alcohol treatment before and relapsed, that doesn’t have to be the end of the story. And it’s not a reflection of your failure – it could just be that the type of treatment you received wasn’t right for you.
If you haven’t been to alcohol addiction treatment before, you probably want to know what your options are, and what to expect. Let’s take a look at the types of treatments that are available, the stages of alcohol rehab, and what The Sanctuary offers that makes all the difference in your ability to be recovered.
Types of Alcohol Addiction Treatment
People, and their needs, are hugely diverse. As such, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to alcohol recovery. What works for one person may not work for another – what’s important is to find the path to recovery that resonates most with you.
A wide range of options are available for treating alcohol addiction. Some of the most common are:
Inpatient Alcohol Rehab
Also referred to as residential rehab, this includes a 30-, 60- or 90-day stay onsite at a rehab center. This option has the best-proven treatment outcomes and provides the most immersive treatment environment and the highest level of care.
Outpatient Alcohol Rehab
Outpatient rehab programs typically include individual alcohol counseling sessions and different types of therapies, education courses, and support groups. While not as intensive as inpatient rehab, outpatient rehab allows you to continue living at home, working, or going to school while receiving treatment.
Alcohol Addiction Counseling
Some mental health counselors offer counseling for addictions. This usually centers on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and can also include therapies like motivational enhancement therapy, family and relationship counseling, and process groups. Counseling can be done independently of alcohol rehab, or as a follow-up to inpatient treatment.
Complementary Holistic Therapies
Increasingly, rehabs are offering complementary therapies like yoga, bodywork, and mindfulness meditation as optional additions to a conventional 12-Step program. These are certainly helpful for making the treatment process more comfortable. But at The Sanctuary, our entire approach to treating alcoholism is founded on holistically healing your mind, body, soul and spirit from addiction.
Medication
Sometimes medications are used in alcohol addiction treatment to help ease withdrawal symptoms or deter people from drinking again. These might include Antabuse (which makes people feel sick if they drink), Naltrexone (to reduce cravings) or Campral (to ease the discomfort of withdrawal symptoms). At The Sanctuary, if you’re currently taking any combination of medicines, you’ll receive a medication review with our board-certified psychiatrist as part of your initial assessment process. We’ll make sure your prescriptions are necessary and working for you, and help you reduce the number of medications you’re taking, should you so desire.
Stages of Alcohol Addiction Treatment
Generally speaking, the basic stages of alcohol treatment are as follows:
Alcohol Detox
For those who are physically dependent on alcohol, detox is the first step in the recovery process. If you have a milder form of alcohol addiction, this step may not be required – this will be determined in your initial assessment. Alcohol detox completely eliminates alcohol from your body, which sometimes triggers withdrawal symptoms. These can last from two to seven days. Alcohol detox can be dangerous when undertaken alone, and should always be supervised by an addiction-specialized medical professional. At The Sanctuary, clients who require detox do so at a partnered hospital, after which primary alcohol addiction treatment takes place at our Sedona, Arizona campus.
Alcohol Rehab
In rehab, you’ll attend an intensive schedule of individual and group counseling, as well as complementary therapies, to help you address the root causes of your addiction. You’ll also create a relapse prevention plan to ensure your recovery is sustainable, and learn healthy coping strategies for dealing with challenges without alcohol. This is the most intensive stage of treatment and usually takes 30 to 90 days. At The Sanctuary, your treatment will focus not just on the psychological aspects of your addiction, but also its larger energetic causes, empowering you to make real, lasting transformation.
Continuing Care
In rehab, continuing care (or “aftercare”) is what happens after you leave inpatient treatment. This normally includes some form of continued group or individual counseling, as well as ongoing support group meetings like AA. At The Sanctuary, our Transition Wellness Program is included as a 60-day component of your overall 90-day program and is highly integrated into the whole of your healing journey.
Holistic Treatment for Alcoholism
From our view, the purpose of alcohol treatment is to uncover and heal your deeper wounds, so you can ultimately be free of addiction. We base our holistic alcohol rehab program on the belief that alcoholism is actually a symptom in and of itself. This condition serves as a signal that your mind, body, spirit, and soul are in need of deeper healing.
We don’t believe that you have to live a life of perpetual recovery from what many call a “disease.” Whether your alcohol addiction stems from a significant loss or trauma you’ve experienced, healing is entirely possible. Through this journey, you have another chance to live a vibrant, authentic, fully engaged life.
A Modern Approach to Treating Alcohol Addiction
Holistic alcohol treatment doesn’t just mean doing some yoga, deep breathing or meditation sporadically throughout your program. At The Sanctuary, we integrate the most cutting-edge methods of healing, from conventional to scientific to holistic, to form a comprehensive recovery journey.
In the past decade, science has overwhelmingly proven the power of the mind-body-soul-spirit connection. We now know that a change in one area of our being affects all others. In order to make a full recovery from alcohol addiction, all parts of our being must be involved in the healing process.
At The Sanctuary’s restorative center in scenic Sedona, you’ll engage in healing methods like functional medicine, psychology, and psychiatry alongside science- and energy-based techniques like bodywork, eco-therapy, and recovery-focused nutrition. Each method plays an intentional role in your rehab experience and is as important and vital as the next. And all work together to empower you to move beyond alcohol addiction and step into your life’s true purpose.
There’s Hope Beyond Alcoholism
You are worthy. You’re worthy of change and the chance to live a recovered life.
We know how impossible this can seem sometimes, especially when you feel trapped in the seemingly endless cycle of addiction. But we also whole-heartedly know that change is possible. We’ve seen it countless times with each person who walks through our doors seeking an alcohol rehab program that will finally work. All it takes is an open mind and a willingness to make a change.
You were meant for so much more than a life alcohol addiction. We’re here to help you see that.
The Sanctuary is a rejuvenating space, created for you to embark on a healing journey that will change your relationship to life.
Contact us today to learn how you can get started.
He is the Founder, Administrator, Counselor at the Sanctuary at Sedona. He has a BA in Political Science and is currently Senior teaching staff at Four Winds Society, an international school of energy medicine. His credentials also include being an Ordained Minister; a Certified Shamanic Breathwork® Facilitator; a Founding Member Society for Shamanic Practitioners; a Member of Association for Comprehensive Energy Psychology; a Member of the National Institute for Holistic Addiction Studies. [email protected]