For Alumni
Leaving Spring Hill doesn’t mean your support ends, connect with fellow alumni who have shared the journey of recovery.
Alumni: Maintaining Recovery
Recovery is a life-long process. After treatment at our facilities, we encourage you to connect with fellow alumni, sharing your new experiences and their out-of-treatment experiences has proven to reduce relapse and help maintain a life of recovery. Day-to-day life will challenge your recovery, so we’ve also shared a list of tips and tools to help you maintain and grow your progress after treatment.
Recovery Tips & Tools
Your treatment program is only one part of your recovery process. The journey continues when you leave Spring Hill! We have tips and tools for you to get the most out of your continuing recovery.
1. Follow through with your aftercare plan
If you’ve gone through a treatment program at a Meadows Behavioral Health facility, you received an aftercare plan before you left. This aftercare plan has information about upcoming therapy and doctor’s appointments, local sober living, and outpatient programs, and will provide you with contact information for the alumni coordinator at your facility. Stick with this plan and continue getting help and support as you recover!
2. Be open with family and friends
Be open with your friends and family about what you need from them to support your sobriety. Talk to them about your fears and hopes in your continuing recovery and give them the chance to help you succeed. Communication is key to improve your relationships and continue recovering.
3. Spend time with those who support your recovery
Sometimes when you come home from treatment, friends who played a part in your addiction will show up again. It can be hard to turn away old friends, but we advise that you only spend time with the people you know will help you stay sober and safe.
4. Find healthy ways to manage stress
During your residential treatment, you learned healthy coping skills for difficult emotions, situations, and triggers. There are ways to manage stress that are healthy and productive, like yoga, meditation, deep breathing exercises, walks, music, art, or journaling. Find what works for you!
5. Eat well and get exercise
Your physical health is crucial to your overall well-being and to your recovery. When feeling good physically, your mental and emotional health improves, too. Eat nutritious meals and fresh foods as often as you can, and try to get 30-60 minutes of activity or exercise daily.
6. Get involved with local recovery support groups
Connecting with a recovery community is one of the key tools for continuing recovery. It is invaluable to remain connected to a community that can provide empathy and support as you find your way in the first days, weeks, months, and years in recovery from addiction.
If you don’t have access to regular alumni meetings from Spring Hill, you can connect to recovery support groups near you.
Here is a list of some groups you might consider:
- Alcoholics Anonymous
- Narcotics Anonymous
- Cocaine Anonymous
- SMART Recovery
- Celebrate Recovery
- Refuge Recovery
7. Volunteer in your local community
Volunteering and connecting with other people to give back to your local community is a great way to stay busy and to boost your self-esteem in recovery. You could work at a food pantry on weekends, do park clean-up projects, help at an animal shelter, or join others doing volunteer work that speaks to you personally!
8. Ask for help when you need it
Don’t be too proud or too afraid to ask for help when you need it. Reach out to someone you trust, whether it’s a sponsor, your alumni coordinator, your counselor, your doctor, a friend, a partner, a parent—your recovery is too important to jeopardize! Call us at any time for support.
Connect
Even after leaving Spring Hill, you are still surrounded with support. Connect with fellow alumni to continue aiding each other in the journey of recovery.
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Spring Hill Recovery Center