The essence of aftercare treatment is to prevent the patient from falling into the addiction web again.
When some people recover from addiction, they don’t put the necessary precautionary measures that will keep them sober.
Rather, they try to meet up with the demands of life using the same approach when they were addicted. This is why some of them end up in and out of rehab because they lack the required coping skills to take on the world using healthy tips.
If a counselor is in the picture, it would be much different for the recovering addict.
The counselor has some crucial functions to play that would help the individual during aftercare treatment. Here are some of them:
To teach coping skills
Coping skills help the recovering addict to fight off cravings anytime they emerge. With coping skills, patients can keep living a healthy and sober life even in the face of crazy cravings that can drive them back to their addiction.
Learning these coping skills might be difficult at first. However, with the help of the counselor, it would be easy to learn and apply them.
To identify triggers
If you don’t know how to identify triggers, it might be difficult to remain sober. This is why counselors need patients, to be sincere with them during the assessment stage.
The honest testimonial of a patient would help the counselor to create a unique way that the patient would use to spot triggers and avoid them completely.
To live a healthy life
Many people don’t know the right way to live healthily. And they are unaware that an unhealthy life can lead to addiction in the long run.
Therefore, the counselor teaches the patient important health tips that would sustain their sobriety in the long run.
The role of a counselor is often underrated and this is because many people don’t know what they do. If you are just recovering from addiction, it is advised to find a counselor to work with so that you won’t relapse.