When you go into an inpatient rehabilitation facility, or rehab, you are removing yourself from the rest of the world. Rehab is a place where people can be safe from triggers from eating disorders, cues to drink or ingest illegal substances, and any harm that they might do themselves without supervision. A person might be able to get better in rehab. They might be able to detox from the drugs, dry out from the alcohol, or gain the weight they need to be healthy. However, the true test of their recovery is how well these people do when they leave rehab. 

If you are in this situation, you are going to need to take steps to make sure that leaving rehab does not derail your recovery. You need to make a plan. Here are some factors that you after rehabilitation plan should include.

1. Follow Up Monitoring

You need to make sure that you continue to talk to a therapist, go to a support group, or attend a less intensive treatment program in order to make sure that you stay on track with your recovery. Talking a professional on a regular basis will give you the accountability that you need to refrain from drinking, staying in bed all day, or going back to your eating disordered habits. You need this accountability because it is very easy to slip back into old habits.

2. A Place to Live With Few Triggers

Triggers are outside stimulation that causes people to want to do things that are not in their best interest. For example, a trigger for an alcoholic could be seeing the vodka that his or her roommate brings back from the liquor store. When you get out of rehab, you want to make sure that you have somewhere to stay that has minimal triggers. For an alcoholic, this could be a sober house or the house of a friend that doesn't drink. You need a place to live with few triggers in order to have a safe space to come back to after going out into the world that is filled with triggers. Without this safe space, you will wear yourself out trying to resist all of the triggers.

3. A Support System

Finally, you need to make sure that you have a support system in place that will give you someone to talk to or hang out with whenever you feel an urge to drink, restrict your food, or ingest drugs. By having a support system, you will always have another option besides giving in to a behavior that is not good for your life. 

For more information, talk to your rehabilitation facility or another location, such as Cypress Cove Care Center.