A medical detox can help you push past the physical withdrawal symptoms when you first quit drugs and alcohol, but you will need to rely on some additional strategies to stay clean in the long run. At Nexstep Medical Detox, we’ve put together five tips for maintaining sobriety to help you on your journey.

Have A Support Network
Identify Possible Relapse Triggers
Develop Healthy Emotional Coping Strategies
Consider Therapy
Celebrate Your Sobriety

1. Join A Recovery Support Network

Isolation and loneliness are huge risk factors for relapse, so it’s important to spend time building and strengthening meaningful relationships in your life. By engaging with a sobriety support group, you can be part of a team of nonjudgmental people in recovery who can relate to each other’s struggles and who want each other to succeed. If possible, it can also be helpful to talk with an empathetic friend or family member whom you feel safe confiding in.

2. Avoid Common Relapse Triggers

Most people (including those without addictions) find it difficult to continually resist their cravings through willpower alone, so it may be helpful to distance yourself from situations that you know are likely to trigger cravings. Although people relapse for many different reasons, some common triggers include:

Job Stress
Relationship Conflicts
Family Emergencies
Financial Hardships
Health-Related Stress
Chronic Pain
Painful Emotions
Parties Involving Drugs Or Alcohol
Seeing Friends & Family Using

3. Coping With Challenging Emotions

Your struggle with addictions may stem from using substances to alleviate certain emotional states that are difficult to cope with. These painful emotions may include depression, anxiety, stress, anger, loneliness, shame, guilt, or boredom, and differ from person to person.

While drugs and alcohol may temporarily numb the pain you’re feeling, they cause more harm to your mental health, relationships, and body in the long run. So, it’s important to find healthier ways to cope, like exercise, losing yourself in service work, or being able to reach out to a sponsor.

4. Speaking With A Mental Health Professional

A therapist or psychiatrist can also help you build healthier coping mechanisms for managing painful emotions, stress, and drug or alcohol cravings. They can also help determine if you have an undiagnosed mental health condition—such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder—to see if medication might help you manage the psychological symptoms that originally fueled your addiction.

5. Celebrate Your Recovery

By celebrating your sobriety milestones with loved ones or a support group, you’ll have an extra layer of motivation to keep staying sober in the future. Staying active in your recovery community keeps you in touch with people who get it, and will be as excited to celebrate your little successes as your big ones. You also get the opportunity to lift others with the same struggles.

Ready For Addiction Detox In Utah?

If you’re currently trying to overcome a drug or alcohol addiction, choosing to start your recovery process at a medical detox center can help boost your chances of success. At Nexstep Medical Detox, we want you to have the tools necessary to stay sober and healthy long after you’ve completed your detox.

Although we can only help you with this very first step of your recovery, we can help you get in touch with rehab programs, outpatient care, sober living houses, and other community-based resources to make the transition into a sober lifestyle much easier.