Addicted Women: Recovery Center Treatment Programs
Addiction is a grave disease that has a devastating affect on all who suffer from it.  For both men and women, recovery center programs offer addicts and alcoholics the best odds of success in recovery.  For women, recovery center programs are especially beneficial, providing a safe and nurturing setting in which they are able to explore the underlying core issues behind their drug and alcohol problems.


The disease of addiction:
In order to understand the importance of treatment, it is necessary to first understand the disease of addiction.  Addiction and alcoholism, two forms of the same chronic disease, affect not only the body, but also the psyche.  The general public has a fairly accurate concept of what physical addiction looks like.  With regular intake, the body grows accustomed to the presence of a drug, adjusting its definition of normality to include the effects of the drug.


This physical adjustment is responsible for the two most notable physical characteristics of addiction: tolerance and withdrawal.  When the body is used to a certain level of intoxication, more and more drugs become necessary to achieve the same high.  This phenomenon is known as increasing tolerance.  Withdrawal stems from the same principle, causing the body to panic when drugs cease to enter the system.  Withdrawal symptoms range from unpleasant to extremely painful and dangerous.  The withdrawal process should be medically supervised for all men and women – recovery center programs ensure that patients are safe during this period.


The mental component of addiction is less widely understood, and is often denied completely.  Alcohol and drug addiction is dismissed by many people as a symptom of poor decision-making, when in fact it is a complex mental condition that drives a person to use drugs in excess.  The initial motivation to use alcohol and drugs is often the desire to numb some type of psychic pain.  Depression, severe anxiety, past trauma, and many other mental conditions can make escape through substances an appealing prospect.  Most addicts are dual-diagnosed with drug addiction or alcoholism as well as another psychological condition.  On top of these coexisting conditions, there are numerous psychological problems that can develop as a result of prolonged drug abuse, such as paranoia, low self esteem, suicidal thoughts, and dissociation.  The psychological component of addiction is undeniable and must be addressed if treatment is to be successful.  At a long-term treatment facility like Safe Harbor Treatment Center for Women, recovery center programming addresses not only substance abuse, but all psychological issues that relate to addiction.


Treatment for women: Recovery center programs
Female addicts and alcoholics have many of the same experiences as their male counterparts, but there are certain aspects of a woman’s experience as an addict or alcoholic that are unique.  All too often female addicts come to treatment with a history of physical and/or sexual abuse, experiences that make their recovery contingent on feeling secure enough to work through trauma.  An all women recovery center setting offers women who come to Safe Harbor the safe and nurturing environment they need during this difficult period of self-exploration.  Female addicts and alcoholics also tend to struggle with body image, eating disorders, and sex and love addiction, all vulnerable topics which cannot be addressed in the presence of men.


As an added benefit of keeping treatment exclusive to women, recovery center programs that offer all-female settings eliminate the distraction the opposite sex can create in early sobriety.  The first stage of recovery is a vulnerable time, where women normally experience insecurity about the changes their bodies undergo as they transition into a healthy lifestyle.  Concern about appearance is multiplied tenfold when men are present, as attention from the opposite sex is an easy form of validation.  By isolating women. recovery center programs like Safe Harbor’s provide clients with a temporary home in which they can focus on what is really important: learning how to live clean and sober.
For Safe Harbor’s women, recovery center life is based on self-discovery.  Some of this self-discovery happens within the structured therapeutic groups that make up the bulk of the daily schedule, but much of it also takes place in the in between moments where Safe Harbor’s women communicate with one another casually.  Sometimes women learn about themselves by discovering common experiences that they have gone through, and sometimes they learn about themselves through the very act of trying to relate to one another effectively.


At Safe Harbor Treatment Center for Women, recovery center programming is made up of therapeutic groups, individual counseling, 12-step work, life skills development, and uplifting social activities.  Structured groups cover topics like relapse prevention, healthy relationships, nutrition, body image and eating disorders.  Daily group counseling sessions function as a space for women to process interactions and emotions that arise naturally during the recovery process.  Particularly important for women with past trauma, group hypnotherapy and experiential therapy provide opportunities for clients to explore aspects of their psychology that they may not be able to access voluntarily.  Safe Harbor’s multilateral program of recovery is designed with the intent of healing the wounds caused by drug and alcohol abuse, and simultaneously spurring mental, emotional and spiritual growth.


What sets Safe Harbor Treatment Center for Women apart from other facilities of its type is its incredibly strong and unified community.  Unlike other 90-day treatment programs, Safe Harbor encourages its clients to move into one of the associated sober living homes upon completing the treatment program.  The majority of women who come through Safe Harbor’s treatment program take this opportunity, choosing to live in Safe Harbor sober living until they have accomplished a year of sobriety.  While in sober living, these women make a daily commitment to act as mentors to Safe Harbor’s newer generations of women, spending time at the treatment center on a regular basis.  Many of Safe Harbor’s alumnae go on to become support staff, and all of the case managers and resident managers are women in recovery from alcoholism or addiction, making them relatable role models for women beginning the journey into sobriety.


Safe Harbor is a one-of-a-kind community of women working together to leave alcohol and drugs behind them as they walk into a sober and healthy life.  Any woman looking for a new beginning has a home waiting for her at Safe Harbor.START YOUR JOURNEY WITH
SAFE HARBOR HOUSE

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