Author: vrcaguadulce

All You Need to Know About Residential Rehab

sobriety is different. Among the most well-known paths to take is going to residential rehab or inpatient treatment as it’s commonly known.

There’s no silver bullet for beating addiction but taking part and investing yourself in the process of recovery with trained, licensed and dedicated addiction specialists gives you a solid foundation upon which to build the rest of your life.

But what exactly is residential rehab?

Residential Rehab: Explained

Residential rehab can be broken down into two main types: long and short term. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) does a wonderful job explaining the concept of both.

“Long-term residential treatment provides care 24 hours a day, generally in non-hospital settings. The best-known residential treatment model is the therapeutic community (TC), with planned lengths of stay of between 6 and 12 months. TCs focus on the “resocialization” of the individual and use the program’s entire community—including other residents, staff, and the social context—as active components of treatment”

And,

“Short-term residential programs provide intensive but relatively brief treatment based on a modified 12-step approach…the original residential treatment model consisted of a 3- to 6-week hospital-based inpatient treatment phase followed by extended outpatient therapy and participation in a self-help group”.

It’s fairly straightforward, the idea being that immersive treatment, without distractions and triggers from home, allows you to focus all your attention and energy on conquering the physical and mental aspects of addiction.

What Happens When You Go to Residential Rehab?

Before entering rehab, you’ll go through detoxification to break your body’s physical dependency on drugs or alcohol. To put it differently, fighting the mental side of addiction is impossible if your body is still deeply craving the substances.

Once you’ve detoxed, the next step is developing a personalized treatment program. All reputable rehab facilities will start with an initial evaluation that seeks to understand you. Taking into account your medical history and substance abuse issues, an individualized plan is developed based on your specific needs.

A one size fits all approach is a definite red flag when looking for a rehab center.

Once you’ve landed on a treatment facility that makes sense for you and have solidified a plan of action and the length of your stay – at Valley Recovery Center we offer 30-, 60- and 90-day residential treatment – the work of recovery begins.

Naturally, the more severe your addiction, the longer you would be advised to stay in rehab because change doesn’t happen overnight as they say.

Rehab is often centered on individual therapy sessions with master’s level therapists as well as group counseling sessions. The goal is to dig deep into the source of your substance abuse and work from there to change your thought patterns. Additionally, there’s a big emphasis on developing healthy coping mechanisms for the triggers you’ll encounter once you reintegrate into your normal life.

Why You or Your Loved One Should Go to Residential Rehab to Treat Addiction

The journey to recovery is rarely an easy one. From withdrawal to cravings to triggers, these things are hard to beat on your own, especially if you or a loved one has been struggling with a substance use disorder for a long time. You haven’t felt “normal” in so long that it might feel alien at first.

Therefore, treating addiction in residential rehab, under the care and guidance of professionals who’ve seen it all before, can truly be a gamechanger in your pursuit of a clean life. A place where the building blocks of sobriety are all laid out before you and you can piece them together at your own pace.

To learn more about our program and philosophy at Valley Recovery Center, reach out to us.

The Unspoken Epidemic – Veterans Addicted to Painkillers

War is like hell.

And as a nation that’s been at war for decades now, there are far too many veterans suffering from the effects of it.

Couple that with the meteoric rise of opioid use over the last 20 years or so and what we have on our hands is an unspoken epidemic. One buried within the broader opioid epidemic.

Veterans addicted to painkillers.

Taken on its own, our national battle with opioids is already a tragedy in its own right, but when it’s happening to those who’ve sacrificed and given so much to the nation – to the ones who put their lives on the line for the freedoms we enjoy – it hits differently.

What Is a Painkiller Addiction?

The most commonly prescribed and used painkillers are opioids and chances are you’re very familiar with these names:

OxyContin
Hydrocodone
Morphine
Fentanyl

It just so happens that these are also highly, highly addictive substances and can lead directly to what’s known as an opioid use disorder (OUD). Defined as, “chronic use of opioids that causes clinically significant distress or impairment. Opioid use disorders affect over 16 million people worldwide, over 2.1 million in the United States, and there are over 120,000 deaths worldwide annually attributed to opioids”.

In the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “over 70% of the 70,630 deaths in 2019 involved an opioid”.

Why Are Veterans Addicted to Painkillers?

Pain is a part of war and the training for it.

The Brookings Institution summed it up well, saying, “by virtue of service to our country, especially in a period of ongoing war, veterans report higher rates of severe pain and chronic pain than the general population. Those realities create an environment where opioid therapies can become widespread and lasting. For veterans who are also disproportionately likely to experience mental health conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)”.

With respect to pain, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) puts some specific numbers to it, noting “two-thirds [of veterans] report they experience pain. More than 9% reported that they experience severe pain, compared to only 6.4% of non-veterans, putting them at higher risk for accidental opioid pain reliever overdoses”.

NIDA also reported that in 2009, military physicians wrote 3.8 million prescriptions for main medication – 4 times more than in 2001.

Perhaps even more troubling is that suicide rates, which are already 1.5 times higher for vets than civilians, may be linked to the intensity of pain according to a study by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

The Best Way to Get Help With a Painkiller Addiction

Among the most effective ways to beat addiction to painkillers is to seek professional, individualized help.

Opioids are intensely addictive and benefit from treatment by those who have seen it before and can therefore guide you through the process better. At Valley Recovery Center at Agua Dulce, treatment for opioid addiction is one of our core specializations. We understand that world more thoroughly than most.

We’ll work with you to create a dedicated and customized rehab program that first works to get you off of the painkillers safely and securely. From there we’ll pull from a wide variety of treatment techniques to craft a plan that’s built around your unique needs as a veteran.

The core of the program often revolves around group and individual therapy and is complemented by things like psychoeducational lectures, art or music therapy, yoga classes, anger management therapy and more. Whatever you need.

We only take 6 men into our programs, meaning that treatment truly does revolve around you.

If painkillers are controlling your life, reach out to us at VRC at Agua Dulce because as a vet, you deserve the best life possible.

It’s Time to Address Veterans Mental Health Issues

The saying goes “freedom isn’t free”.

There’s a cost to it.

We’re not talking about the financial burden of the defense and security of the nation – no, the cost is human.

It’s tallied in the flesh and blood, bodies and minds tasked with defending the country, going to battle for it and vigilantly being on guard for it.

It’s counted in the casualties, the breakdowns and the suicides.

The cost of freedom is indeed exceedingly human.

Unfortunately, those paying the price are frequently left behind in a sense and veterans’ mental health issues are woefully under-cared for; those that deserve our support most often get the least.

Chances are damn near 100% that you know someone who’s served, they may be family, friends or neighbors so it’s time to address the issues they face head-on.

What Does It Mean to Be A Veteran?

Per the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), it’s a straightforward definition, “a person who served in the active military, naval, or air service, and who was discharged or released therefrom under conditions other than dishonorable”.

Additionally, they add that “a Reservist or member of the National Guard called to Federal active duty or disabled from a disease or injury incurred or aggravated in the line of duty or while in training status also qualifies as a veteran”.

Plain and simple, that’s what defines a veteran.

As a nation that’s almost perpetually at war, the number of veterans is by no means a small group, data from the VA shows that there are nearly 20 million living veterans today.

Why Are Veterans Prone to Mental Health Issues?

The nature of why veterans are prone to issues with mental health has to do with the nature of combat itself. War isn’t a picnic and neither is the preparation for it. Being enlisted in the armed services is mentally taxing in ways that those who haven’t served would find difficult to relate to.

Moreover, there are issues unrelated to combat which cause problems. The VA notes that 23% of women reported sexual assault in the military and 55% experience sexual harassment (38% of men).

This creates an environment ripe for something like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to metastasize. According to the VA and broken down by era, the rates of PTSD for those serving are:

Operations Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Enduring Freedom (OEF): About 11-20 out of every 100 Veterans – or between 11-20%
Gulf War (Desert Storm): About 12 out of every 100 Gulf War Veterans, or 12%
Vietnam War: About 15 out of every 100 Vietnam Veterans, or 15%, were currently diagnosed with PTSD at the time of the most recent study in the late 1980s. It’s estimated that about 30 out of every 100, or 30%, of Vietnam Veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime.

By comparison, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the lifetime prevalence of PTSD among all adults is 6.8%.

Depression is also a big issue among the veteran community with 14% of veterans being diagnosed with it.

Without proper care, this leads to a homelessness rate that sits at 3.7% and a markedly elevated risk of developing a substance use disorder (SUD).

2 of 10 vets with PTSD has a SUD
1 of 3 vets who seek treatment for SUD also has PTSD
1 in 10 of the returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan has a problem with drugs or alcohol

Add that all up and you have a suicide rate that’s disproportionately higher for veterans, roughly 1.5 times that of the civilian population.

A recent study on the topic ended with this, “in summary, veterans demonstrate high rates of SUDs. There is a clear need for the development of novel, more effective, evidence-based interventions to address the health care needs of our veterans and their family members struggling with SUDs”.

How We Can Help Veterans Today

Helping veterans first and foremost requires recognizing their unique issues and circumstances. It means continuing to destigmatize mental health and that it’s ok to seek help and not a sign of weakness.

Most importantly it’s creating and giving access to effective treatment options, addiction experts and mental health specialists.

At Valley Recovery Center at Agua Dulce, our mission is to help men take back control of their lives, regain their sobriety and get back to feeling like themselves again mentally.

If there’s a veteran in your life suffering in silence, reach out to us and let’s discuss what you can do to help.

Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Used for Substance Abuse?

There’s an understandable reluctance to seek treatment for addiction. Perhaps you see it as an admission of defeat or that having a problem you can’t control feels embarrassing to acknowledge.

In reality, rehab for alcoholism is empowering and it’s the opposite of losing control. In fact, conceding that you need help in overcoming an addiction is the first step in regaining control of your life and charting a new, sober path forward.

Alcohol rehab in Thousand Oaks, CA is the place to start that journey.

Signs I Need to Go to an Alcohol Rehab in Thousand Oaks, CA

How do you know when is the right time to go?

When does your drinking go from recreational to problematic?

While there is no clear line in the sand, there are plenty of signs to look for that would clue you in to a need for professional help:

Health problems related to drinking

Heavy drinking over a prolonged period can lead to significant health issues, most notably liver damage but it doesn’t end there. Alcohol affects your entire body, the brain, heart and pancreas as well as being linked to various types of cancer.

Your main priority is alcohol

If you’re spending a disproportionate amount of time getting or drinking alcohol, to the point that it’s all-consuming, that’s a clear sign it’s taken over your life.

Alcohol is creating problems with friends and family

If alcohol has indeed become your core interest, there’s a likelihood it has put a strain on your relations with your family and friends. Whether that arises in the form of arguments about your drinking and how you think you have it in control or just tension from dealing with things like hangovers. The more you prioritize the drink, the deeper the rift becomes.

Work, school and/or home responsibilities are suffering

As you fall further into alcoholism, the consequences seep further into your life and affect your professional life and responsibilities. If your ability to make a living or get through class is suffering, it may be time to ask for help.

You’ve tried to quit before with no success

This is a big one, if you were able to recognize before that you had a problem with your alcohol consumption but couldn’t get it under control on your own, that’s a surefire indication you need outside help to overcome it.

Other indicators to look out for are:

Skipping activities of all types so you can drink
Having strong cravings for alcohol
Finding yourself in dangerous situations like drunk driving
Needing to drink more to get the same effect
Experiencing withdrawal when you stop drinking

What Happens When You Go to an Alcohol Rehab?

The first thing that happens is detox.

Addiction may be classified as a disorder and to treat the mental side, you must first break the physical dependency and detox is the process of ridding your body of alcohol to do just that.

Once you’ve gotten through withdrawal, it’s time to tackle the underlying cause of your addiction in rehab. Depending on the severity of your addiction that’s either done in residential inpatient care or outpatient care.

The difference is that with inpatient care, you live at the facility which eliminates all distractions and allows you to focus squarely on defeating your alcohol use disorder. Outpatient care is meant for less serious addiction and involves coming into rehab for scheduled sessions while you live at home.

How All American Detox Can Help You With Your Alcohol Addiction

At All American Detox in Woodland Hills, California our personalized, evidence-based programs are administered in our luxurious Southern California treatment center.

We can help you find freedom from alcoholism by being an all-in-one solution that takes you from detox through to aftercare planning services that ensure you’re able to safely transition into your newly achieved sober life.

Don’t hesitate to contact us to learn more about what we offer.

The Best Alcohol Rehab for Men

The best rehab is ultimately the one that works for you.

At Valley Recovery Center at Agua Dulce, we think we’ve crafted a treatment facility and addiction recovery program that can be downright transformational for you or the man in your life that’s struggling with alcoholism.

There isn’t an award for the “best alcohol rehab” – nor should there be because it’s not a competition – and, truthfully, the only award we aim for is the long term sobriety and lasting recovery of all the gentlemen who come to us for treatment and helping them become positive, productive men. The reward is the phone calls, visits and emails from past clients telling us about what they’ve done with their newfound freedom from substance abuse.

What Is an Alcohol Rehab?

Not every treatment center concentrates on the same addiction or treats them in the same way.

While addiction, as per the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “is a chronic disease characterized by drug seeking and use that is compulsive, or difficult to control, despite harmful consequences”, there is still nuance in the treatment approaches and methods. Some rehabs focus on particular addictions and others may utilize different types of treatment to achieve their results.

An alcohol rehab, in the most straightforward terms, is a facility that specializes in guiding those with alcoholism towards sobriety and sustained recovery. The staff, clinicians, addiction specialists and therapists all have deep and specialized experience helping specifically those with an alcohol use disorder.

At VRC Agua Dulce, alcohol addiction is a core focus.

Why VRC Agua Dulce Is the Best Alcohol Rehab

There are a number of attributes that make VRC Agua Dulce a terrific option for alcohol rehab.

Our Environment

Agua Dulce, located north of Los Angeles and nestled away in the hills of Southern California, is a quiet escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. Our spacious and luxurious facility is designed to feel home-like and not remotely institutional in any sense of the word.

While there are plenty of shared spaces like the gym, game room, pool & hot tub area and more to build camaraderie, you have your own private bedroom to have some privacy and get away from it all if needed.

Small Group, Focused Care

To keep the quality of care up to our exacting standards we only take in a handful of men at a time. Smaller groups mean that the attention you or your father, brother, uncle, son or other man in your life receives is second to none. No one should feel forgotten, especially in rehab, and at VRC we ensure that won’t happen.

Having fewer men in the facility also means you’ll be able to create closer bonds and cement those crucial, meaningful friendships with sober-minded men.

Gender-Specific Treatment

For some people, being in a mixed treatment center with men and women is fine and doesn’t have a negative effect on their care. For others though, being in the presence of the opposite sex can throw a wrench into their system. We remove that possibility by being a men’s only rehab facility.

Being surrounded by those who have a shared lived experience can be hugely beneficial in terms of increasing your comfort level and ability to participate and internalize the treatment.

Detox to Inpatient

There’s just a certain reassurance and trust that comes with being able to detox in the same place you do your inpatient care. The people that helped you get through withdrawal successfully are the same ones who guide you through your program, after all.

VRC Agua Dulce Is Here to Help You Overcome Addiction Today

If alcohol has taken over your life or that of a loved one, reach out to us at Valley Recovery Center at Agua Dulce and learn more about our alcohol rehab.

Drug Treatment Facilities Near Me

Treatment for a substance use disorder, be it drugs or alcohol, comes in many forms. You can’t unlock every door with the same key after all.

Just like the situations and circumstances that drove a person to addiction are distinctive, so too are the solutions. On top of that, because rehabilitation happens along a continuum, some facilities specialize and handle different parts of that process while others can guide you from start to finish.

Some treatment centers are purely evidence-based while others may incorporate more alternative methods.

To that end when asking yourself, “what drug treatment facilities near me?” it’s important to understand where you are with your addiction and what would be best for you as far as treatment goes. Thankfully, with so many options available these days, with a bit of research, you can find a recovery center that’s well suited to your needs.

Signs and Symptoms of Addiction

Before treatment can start though, there needs to be an acknowledgment that an addiction is present. It’s hard to solve a problem if you don’t believe there is one and that realization is often a challenge to come to terms with.

It’s natural for you to deny there’s an issue and it’s equally natural for family members or friends to live in a state of denial too. Nobody wants to believe they’re an addict or are enabling one, so excuses get made until the evidence becomes overwhelming.

That evidence comes in the form of signs and symptoms.

As far as diagnosing a substance use disorder goes, and for the sake of consistency, clinicians use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition or DSM-5. The criteria, or signs, of addiction as summarized from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) are:

Taking the substance in larger amounts or over a longer period than intended
Inability to cut back or quit despite genuine efforts to do so
Spending inordinate amounts of time getting, using and/or recovery from usage
Strong cravings
Failure to fulfill obligations at work, school or home due to substances
Continuing to use despite the clear relationship problems it’s creating
Skipping or giving up on social, occupational or recreational activities in favor of using
Using despite it putting you in physical danger, i.e., drunk driving
Continued use despite the physical or psychological problems it’s causing or making worse
A tolerance develops, as in you need more to achieve the same effect
Withdrawal symptoms develop when you stop using and you continue to use to relieve them as

Different Types of Drug Treatment Facilities to Go To

Fortunately, whenever you do reach that psychological tipping point, where you recognize the need for treatment, there are options.

Detox

This is the process of flushing the toxins out of the body. In addition to the mental stranglehold drugs and alcohol have, they also create physical dependency which needs to be broken. That’s what detox is all about.

Residential Inpatient Care

This is where the real work of rehabilitation happens. Inpatient care is a type of treatment that is generally for more severe addiction and can last from a few weeks to many months depending on how heavy the substance use disorder you’re dealing with is.

With inpatient care you live at the facility and are immersed in a treatment regimen, removed from all distractions like work, school, friends, family, etc. so you can concentrate all your attention on recovery. The focus is on psychoeducation and psychotherapy which goes deep into the root causes of your addiction by way of one-on-one and group therapy. Guided by a trained addiction specialist of course.

Outpatient Care

The type of treatment you get with outpatient care is similar to what you get at an inpatient facility. The main difference is that you don’t live in. You’re able to carry on with your regular life and you come in for regularly scheduled sessions. Outpatient treatment is ideal for those with less severe addiction or for people who are transitioning out of inpatient rehab.

VRC Agua Dulce Is Here to Help You With Your Addiction

Be it alcohol or drugs like opioids or benzodiazepines, at Valley Recovery Center in Agua Dulce, we offer highly-structured and customized therapy with a holistic focus on your overall well being. Get in touch with us today to learn more.

What Are the 12 Steps of Recovery?

Even for those uninitiated in the world of recovery from substance abuse, the idea of a 12 step program is familiar. It’s crossed over in a sense and has become a generally understood concept across society.

As is commonly said, recovery is a lifelong journey, meaning that treatment is just the beginning. Once you complete a rehab program, be it inpatient or outpatient based, the work of maintaining that hard won sobriety starts. Life is full of triggers and situations that might drive you to relapse and use again so actively engaging in staying sober is a must.

A 12 step program helps you do just that and is a type of support group for those on the journey of recovery.

What Are the 12 Steps of Recovery?

The concept of 12 steps was started decades ago by another familiar name in recovery from substance abuse, Alcoholics Anonymous. AA was founded back in 1935 with the initial writings that now make up the 12 steps starting to take shape around 1939.

While the history is interesting, the more common question that comes up is, “what are the 12 steps of recovery?”. As per AA, they are:

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

You’ll no doubt notice the heavy religious/spiritual nature of the steps but being religious is in no way, shape or form a prerequisite for finding value and guidance in the process. Support groups that utilize the 12 step model are first and foremost about the support you find within them.

How Are 12 Step Groups Incorporated Into Rehab?

12 step groups are incorporated at the later stages of rehab and thereafter. If you move to a sober living home, for example, participation in a 12 step group may be required as a condition of your stay.

The integration of a 12 step group is based on the idea that a great way to stay sober is to have a support system of people who know what you’re going through. A group that is free of judgment and intimately knows the depths of addiction themselves.

12 step programs, and any other type of support group for that matter, are a place to develop camaraderie and friendship of like-minded people who are on the same path as you and therefore understand what you’re going through. The mentor/mentee relationships that are formed also create a sense of accountability that helps people avoid relapse.

Get Help With Addiction at Valley Recovery Center Agua Dulce Today

At Valley Recovery Center Agua Dulce, we firmly grasp the imperative for continued care after your treatment with us is complete which is why we make sure to help you with aftercare and develop a relapse prevention plan. Reach out to us to learn more about what we offer or to get more information about 12 step programs and how they help heal addiction.

Naltrexone: What Is It Used For?

The journey of recovery starts when you confidently decide to take your life back from drugs or alcohol. As rewarding as it is though, with peaks as high as Everest, the valleys and lows can be equally as dramatic.

Anything that helps soften those lows in treatment and can keep you on the path of sustained sobriety is a blessing.

Naltrexone is one of those helpers.

Known more commonly by some of its brand names; ReVia, Vivitrol and Depade, naltrexone – the generic name – works wonders for those recovering from an opioid use disorder or alcoholism.

What Is Naltrexone?

As mentioned, this drug is used as a medication-assisted treatment option for those striving to beat opioids and/or alcohol. Taken as a pill or via injection, naltrexone is part of a broader rehab program, not a solution in its own right.

The fact that it can handle such seemingly disparate substances might have you thinking that naltrexone something of a miracle drug. It certainly seems that way but digging into the science helps make sense of why it works so well for both.

In regards to opioids, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) puts it this way, “Naltrexone blocks the euphoric and sedative effects of opioids such as heroin, morphine, and codeine. Naltrexone binds and blocks opioid receptors, and reduces and suppresses opioid cravings.”

They go on, for alcohol the medication “binds to the endorphin receptors in the body, and blocks the effects and feelings of alcohol. Naltrexone reduces alcohol cravings and the amount of alcohol consumed. Once a patient stops drinking, taking naltrexone helps patients maintain their sobriety.”

In some respects, the brain reacts to alcohol in a way that’s similar to opioids and naltrexone uses that to its advantage and becomes an effective tool for recovery.

SAMHSA also points out that, “naltrexone is not an opioid, is not addictive, and does not cause withdrawal symptoms with stop of use…there is no abuse and diversion potential with naltrexone.”

While there may be no withdrawal symptoms from the medication, it can prompt opioid withdrawal symptoms if taken too soon after your last use of an opioid. Because of that, those undergoing treatment should wait anywhere from a week to 14 days depending on if they were taking short- or long-acting opioids.

For alcohol, it’s generally recommended to begin taking naltrexone after you’ve completed detoxing.

Why You Should Detox From Drugs and Alcohol at a Professional Facility

Rehab and treatment begin in full force only after you’ve detoxed from drugs and alcohol.

Understandably the prospect of detox can be a scary one.

You’ve grown so accustomed to drinking or taking your opioid of choice that there’s an intimidating sense of the unknown involved in what sobriety will feel like. Detoxing from both alcohol and opioids can be arduous and uncomfortable and going through it on your own only compounds the difficulty.

Not only that but the withdrawal from both can actually be lethal, particularly in the case of alcohol where delirium tremens are possible.

Luckily, you don’t have to do it alone and there are a number of benefits to detoxing at a professional facility.

Potentially Life-Saving

Because withdrawal can be deadly in some cases, arguably the most compelling reason to detox at a facility is that being in the immediate vicinity of medical experts can save your life.

Supervised

The entire process is in fact supervised and guided by trained medical staff and addiction professionals to ensure you’re as comfortable as possible and protected from risk.

Supported

A huge component of not only rehab, but also the detox process is support. Feeling like someone is there for you and genuinely understands what you’re going through is a powerful motivator in those low moments.

Reach out to us today at VRC Agua Dulce

If you have any questions about detox or want to learn more about medication-assisted treatment with naltrexone, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at Valley Recovery Center at Agua Dulce.

Finding the Best Men Only Rehab

Acknowledging that the time is now for change and that you’re finally ready to take the steps necessary to shift the course of your life is a momentous occasion. Truly a decision worth celebrating in its own right.

However, that first big step leads directly to another important choice and an accompanying question.

Where do you go for rehab?

A quick Google search yields a seemingly endless array of results for treatment and it can all get overwhelming quickly. There are some quick ways to narrow it down though and among them is deciding whether men only rehab is right for you. There are plenty of benefits that are touched on below but the main thing it does, at least initially, is narrow the field of view and make picking a rehab just that little bit easier.

Signs I Need to Go to Rehab

Before delving into that though, perhaps you haven’t quite come to the conclusion you need rehab or maybe you’re concerned about a loved one whom you think might be abusing drugs or alcohol.

Knowing the signs of addiction and if it’s severe enough to warrant treatment go a long way in making an informed determination. Here are some things to look for that might mean it’s time to start considering treatment or some type of intervention:

Lost control of usage taking more drugs or drinking more than planned
Spending a disproportionate amount of time getting, using or recovering from drugs or alcohol
Inability to quit or cut back despite sincere efforts to do so
Drugs or drinking has become the main priority in your life
Strained relationships with friends and family around you
Missing important events, skipping activities, etc. in favor of drug use or drinking
Work, school and the ability to stick with responsibilities all-around has gone down
Drinking or doing drugs despite the clear negative repercussions
Legal and financial issues related to using
Taking more or drinking more to achieve the same level of intoxication aka developing a tolerance

Why Go to a Men Only Rehab?

There are plenty of reasons why going to a rehab center for men only could be advantageous for you but the most basic is this: addiction affects men and women differently.

From how drugs are taken to the rates of addiction to particular drugs to the effects, there are differences across the board and gender-specific treatment could be more helpful for some people.

Specialized Treatment

On emotional, relational, behavioral and physiological levels, men and women differ. Men only rehab allows for specialized treatment that is catered to the male experience.

Shared Experience Makes It Easy to Relate and Creates Better Communication

There’s an innate baseline of relatability when you’re around people that have likely lived through similar experiences to you from childhood to situations as an adult. A fundamental level on which everyone “gets it” and has some degree of a shared lived reality.

The better you understand someone, the easier it is to have meaningful conversations.

Increased Comfort

If you’re surrounded by people who understand you it’s easier to feel comfortable and open up around them, something that could very well take longer in a mixed treatment center. If your drug or alcohol use was related to a relationship, for example, it might be tough to be honest about if women are present. Similarly, with exploring feelings and fears. The comfort to be candid is priceless when it comes to treatment.

Less Distraction

Getting into a relationship in rehab is generally considered a no-no because it distracts you from the task at hand. Rehab requires focus and a new relationship or even just sexual attraction or tension is something that can derail the process.

Let Valley Recovery Center Agua Dulce Help You Get Sober

If you’re at the point that you’re ready to commit to men only rehab or have any questions or concerns about whether it’s right for you, give us a shout at Valley Recovery Center at Agua Dulce and we can walk you through everything you need to know.

Major Benefits of Attending Residential Drug Rehab

The immersive treatment that takes place in residential drug rehab is likely pretty closely related to what you’re picturing right now: a comfortable – perhaps even luxurious – home, beautiful weather, therapy sessions, alternative treatments like yoga, etc.

Those can all be part of residential rehab but there are plenty of benefits beyond that surface level.

What Is Residential Drug Rehab?

In a nutshell, residential drug rehab is where you live at the treatment facility. Between the support staff, addiction specialists, medical staff like psychiatrists and other treatment professionals the care is 24 hours a day and the programs are highly structured and personalized to suit your recovery needs.

Treatment can last anywhere from a month to over a half a year depending on the severity of the addiction.

How Does Residential Drug Rehab Help With Addiction?

The advent of a residential rehab for addiction really did represent a sea change in recovery and the ways in which it’s beneficial are plentiful.

Structure

You have a real, bonafide daily routine at a residential treatment center and that alone is very important. Between individual and group therapy sessions, meals, recreational and alternative therapy options your schedule is packed. There is simply no time to think about doing anything else.

In your previous life, free time meant time you could fill with drug use. That’s removed and replaced with productive activities and therapy. The building and maintaining of a daily structure is something that you carry with you into life after rehab.

Remove Yourself from Triggers

Being in a place where everything revolves around your sobriety and recovery means you’re getting away from the triggers you once lived with. Whether it was where you hung out or whom you associated with, being surrounded by those same elements makes it hard to get clean.

Getting away from those negative influences lets you truly focus on the positive elements of rehab and cementing the things you’re learning. The coping mechanisms, thought patterns and behaviors you’re picking up in rehab need time to gel and going back to that world of triggers is a recipe for relapse.

Surrounded by People Who Understand

Similar to removing yourself from difficult situations or people, residential rehab affords you the opportunity to be in the midst of those who truly do understand you. It’s just easier to relate to someone who has experienced addiction. Even if your home life is full of supportive people, there is still a gulf of understanding between you.

Moreover, being surrounded by people who are working towards and committed to a sober life means you can start to create a network of aligned and like-minded people with whom you can stay connected once you’ve finished up and are back to your daily life. That need for support doesn’t go away.

Drug-Free Environment

Sort of an obvious one but it needs to be said, living in a drug and alcohol-free environment is important. Just like people and places can trigger, the sheer proximity to drinks or your drug of choice can do exactly the same thing.

Part of recovery is learning to deal with cravings and if you have easy access to drugs or a drink you can quickly find yourself overcome by the urge in a moment of weakness. Being in a place that’s free of that and chock full of supportive people makes a huge difference.

Support

Speaking of support, having it is vital in recovery and residential drug rehab is built on support. Not only that but the accountability that it engenders.

VRC Agua Dulce Is Here to Help With Addiction

If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, residential rehab at Valley Recovery Center at Agua Dulce with private rooms, luxurious amenities and expert addiction specialists, could be the right fit for you. Reach out to us to learn more.