Recently, I’ve been getting quite a few emails and phone calls from addicts who have been discharged from basic 30 day treatment programs looking for some sort of aftercare to help them deal with continuing craving issues.

The first thing I did with these communications is congratulate them on their honesty and ability to recognize the problem and to actively seek help by way of phone calls and emails. Isolating during this period of early recovery is a recipe for relapse.

The emails and phone calls illustrate the well known proposition that while a 30 day program is a good start, it is by no means the end of treatment. Recovery is a life-long process for addicts and a great deal of support is necessary, particularly in the early phase of recovery.

The sad reality, however, is that certain types of aftercare, outpatient, private therapy, sober living, etc., costs money. Not everybody has the money, and, for that matter, the time. In a perfect world where time and money were not an issue, addiction recovery would likely encompass long term inpatient, followed by outpatient with private therapy and AA fellowship mixed in.

So, what pearls of wisdom have I been bestowing upon those addicts who have been contacting me. Well, the first thing I mentioned was that I’m not a therapist and that they really should be going back to their counselors and review what was talked about in their discharge plan. Most, if not all, facilities have some sort of aftercare plan or recommendations to help addicts once they leave the treatment facility. I pointed out that, generally speaking, treatment facilities know how to help addicts get sober. It is up to the addict to embrace those suggestions and work the program. It requires work and dedication. There’s no way of getting around it. Sobriety is there for the taking but it comes with a price, and that price is throwing in the towel and surrendering to what was learned in treatment and what was recommended for aftercare.

Many of the callers complained that they did not have money for certain of the aftercare recommendations and that they did not want to continue participating in AA (which is free). Here’s where I offered myself as an example and reported what was helpful to me in early sobriety.

I wasn’t an enthusiastic participant of AA, but my counselors told me I needed to attend 90 meeting in 90 days following my discharge. I did the 90 meetings in 90 days and went well beyond that. I probably hit over 250 meetings in my first year. I can’t say it was my favorite thing to do, but it was what they recommended and I did it and then some.

I also met with a therapist once a week for several months. It wasn’t cheap and insurance didn’t pay on it, but I made sacrifices (financially) so that I could make the appointments.

I kept myself busy so that my mind did not have a chance to dwell in the fear of relapse. I wrote on a daily basis, took some continuing education classes at the local university, excercised, blogged, created a recovery-related website and took advantage of the AA fellowship. These are the things I needed to do to keep sober, and, quite frankly, many of them I still do today.

The bottom line: If you are an addict in early recovery, get off your butt and get busy. Yes, it helps if you have time and money, but don’t use that as an excuse to put sobriety on a low priority. There are many things out there in life that can help you and don’t cost money. Call your counselor or ask a seasoned AA veteran for some ideas if you need more help.