Valuable Ways to Begin Healing Relationships with Your Children After Rehab

Congratulations, you've recently reached recovery. Now, you may be facing the daunting task of repairing your relationships, including those with your children. So, what do you do? How do you begin to heal relationships with children after you return from rehab?

It's hard to say what your journey of repairing your relationships will look like. After all, everyone's situation is unique. However, there are some things you can do, regardless of the circumstances, you're going back into.

Let's talk about ways to heal your relationships with your children after rehab.

Ways to Heal Relationships with Your Children After Rehab

There are many ways you can work on healing your relationships after rehab. One of the first things you can do is begin a new pattern of intentional, honest communication. For example, your children will likely need to hear you say you're sorry. Next, they'll need you to let them use their voice to express their feelings and pain. This may be rather difficult to hear and handle, and it could also be triggering. However, it's a necessary component of their healing process and maybe yours too. Therefore, it may be a good idea to prepare with a therapist before and after you hold this family discussion.

Remember, as you work to repair your relationships with your children, trust will be crucial to their healing. Rebuilding trust takes time, transparency, and action. Likewise, the amount of time it takes to trust again can vary from person to person and child to child. Open communication and quick follow-through can help restore trust in relationships. Although you cannot force them to trust you, continuing to show your children that it's safe to trust you can work. However, this process may take a long time and requires patience along the way.

A fun way to work on healing your relationships with your children is to invite them to take part in activities that also help you maintain sobriety. For example, if you identified exercise as a stress reducer, ask your children to be active with you every day. Likewise, if you meditate every morning or night, you could have them join you. Having your children be actively involved in your recovery plan can be a great way to bond and, at the same time, help you with relapse prevention.

Repair Your Relationships with Your Children By Maintaining Recovery

Of course, after rehab, repairing your relationships with your children and spouse is where you'll want to focus. However, an essential component of their healing will be for you to maintain your sobriety. So, it's vital that your relapse prevention plan remains your priority. This includes being aware of stressors and doing whatever it takes to overcome triggers. By attending groups or therapy sessions, you're showing your family that you've made changes and plan on keeping them.

Now that you're in recovery, it's easy to want everyone to move forward. However, your family's pain may still be too raw to do so. In the meantime, the best thing you can do is to do everything it takes to maintain recovery and offer patience and transparency along the way.

At Paradise Creek Recovery Center, we understand the challenges that arise after you leave treatment. Likewise, we know how vital relationships are to maintaining recovery. As such, we work to ensure you have the tools you need to succeed. For example, we work with families and hold sessions over the phone or computer while you're in rehab. We want to help you recover life in every possible aspect.

Visit our website today to learn more.

The Unique Way Sexual Addiction Treatment May Help With Your Recovery

There are many reasons why and benefits of going to a rehab center. However, let's talk about why it might be the first serious step towards sexual addiction recovery.

By design, treatment centers can help those with an addiction to sex, porn, and substances. The main goal of a rehabilitation center is to provide you with a controlled, safe environment as you work through issues and acquire new skills. Like many, you may not recognize you're no longer in control of your life. Oftentimes, going to treatment involves a family intervention to help encourage a loved one to seek help. Sexual addiction treatment is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to help addicts get their life back.

Let's discuss why a sexual addiction treatment center may be the first step of your journey toward recovery.

Why should I enter a sexual addiction rehabilitation program?

We live in a world where technology is ever-present. As a result, this can have a profound effect on our intimate lives. It seems like we are constantly plugged in and using phones for the majority of the day. However, this significantly increases the accessibility to fuel addictions, including sexual addiction.

Our center provides a safe environment that will address these severe outside distractions. At the same time, it allows you to focus on moving towards healing and living in recovery. Likewise, without all the distractions, you're more likely to learn the skills you need to overcome your sexual addiction. So, are you ready to take the first step toward recovery by enrolling in our sexual addiction treatment program?

Paradise Creek specializes in sexual addiction.

When we say that Paradise Creek Recovery Center wants to help you beat your addiction, we mean it. Our staff has over 50 years of combined experience in treating those who are battling sexual addiction. We do this through inpatient, residential, and outpatient settings.

Like alcohol or drug programs, sex addiction requires unique strategies and tools specific to this type of addiction. Paradise Creek Recovery Center is known for its work with pornography and sexual addiction. Our approach utilizes specific strategies to treat these addictions. As a result, many clients find themselves living healthier lives while in recovery.

Here's what you'll find:

Specialized Sexual Addiction Treatment

Sex addicts come from different life situations and have different levels of addiction. Unlike many counseling programs, treatment at Paradise Creek can offer customized care.

24/7 Care

Our facility is in a quiet, rural location that allows you to get away from everyday distractions. As a result, you're able to truly focus on your recovery.

In-Depth Assessment of Your Mental Health

A mental health professional will go through a complete assessment with you. During this process, you may discover your sexual addiction stems from other issues. For example, you may have co-occurring disorders such as depression, anxiety, OCD, or impulse control disorders. Then, we combine your assessment results with your needs and goals to develop your unique treatment plan.

Paradise Creek Recovery Center has the know-how you need to get your life back.

Paradise Creek Recovery Center is a residential sexual addiction treatment center that aims to help you find hope and heal. At Paradise Creek Recovery Center, you can learn how to:

If you, or someone you love, has a sexual addiction, now is the time to get help. No matter who you are, sex addiction is a dangerous vice and one that should be properly treated with the help of a licensed professional.

Please contact us today for more information about our programs.

Addiction, Neuroplasticity and Mindfulness

(Post share from the IRATAD Blog)

I recently read a book by Miriam Boleyn-Fitzgerald (2010), Pictures of the Mind: what the new neuroscience tells us about who we are.  This book explains how new technology is contributing to groundbreaking discoveries related to how the brain works and its influence on our behavior.  . . .

I find it hopeful to know that we have the ability to change and heal within us because of neuroplasticity.  Not only can we retrain our brains to heal and recover from addictions, but the author states researchers have identified neural pathways for spiritually significant mind states like empathy, compassion, and forgiveness . . .

Empathy, compassion, and forgiveness toward the self and other people are important skills to cultivate during the journey of recovery from addiction.  Often recovery may feel like being on an emotional rollercoaster, making it more difficult to develop prosocial skills.  It is helpful to remember that we are not our emotions.  Emotions are fleeting lasting only a matter of seconds; it is our moods that are more pervasive.  Being aware of the fleeting nature of emotions will make it easier to let them go and not identify with them.

 Read More . . . 

What Role Does Neuroplasticity Have In Addiction Treatment?

Neuroplasticity, neuro (brain/nerve/neuron) and plasticity (moldability), is what neuroscientists refer to as the brains ability to change and adapt at any age. As we make decisions, think about something, make memories and feel emotions, neural pathways in the brain hold and store this information which can occur on different levels.

A great deal of research went into patients that suffered from disease and brain injuries as they realized that over time the brain found ways of rewiring itself to other parts of the brain, actually going around the injured area to reconnect with other neurons and compensate for the injury. This new finding created a positive response as doctors and therapists began looking for changes in the patient’s rewiring skills, as this ‘flexibility of reorganization’ was taking place and patients found that they could improve and recover.

Another important aspect to understand is realizing that addictions have 4 components:

  1. Using a behavioral action with the body
  2. Thinking thoughts before or after the behavior
  3. Feeling emotions that are generated as a result of the thought such as sadness, guilt, disappointment, shame, or depression
  4. The brain has a physical response to thoughts, feelings, and actions that causes neurochemicals to be released into the body as it responds to the behavior

Understanding these 4 components is crucial in treating addiction because it’s about the pleasure centers in the brain being seized and taken over. People create habits that generate different neural pathways in the brain which allows them to become accustomed to their new source of pleasure. The brain is now wired to link this sensation to feeling good from the pleasure they receive. Soon, the need for more creates an obsession to experience the euphoric sensations they previously had that ultimately creates an addiction. But this can all change, and here is an explanation why:

With the continued study of neuroplasticity, scientist realize that the brain is structured to change and can respond to certain stimuli over a person’s lifetime. Besides the way a brain can make changes when new information is presented, our behaviors are another way our brain and body react to certain stimuli like emotions, stress, and other physical senses. A person, addict or not, can walk into a room and smell something delicious baking in the oven that triggers a memory that they hadn’t thought of or remembered for a number of years. This stimulus recalls on cellular memory groups, and can be activated from this type of inducement, making it easy to remember or respond to the stimulus that was previously known. But for addicts, this is especially hard as it triggers the same feelings and images that they are trying to avoid.

Understanding behaviors and how closely they relate to our senses, memory, and cognition is important to comprehend when dealing with neuroplasticity and rewiring the brain. Since they all rely on repetition and other challenging activities, the brain is able to make changes and literally rewire new pathways to improve its performance. And the best part is that the more you practice this new way of thinking, new skills can be developed to create happy connections among neuron pathways in the brain.

Now that we understand that humans have the ability to change behaviors, those with sexual addictions can literally retrain their brains to make new pathways that will reconnect them to a healthier way of living.

Resolutions and Addiction

(Post share from the IRATAD Blog)

Addiction is about not being able to maintain boundaries, follow though on commitments and being able to self-soothe in a healthy way.  When we are unable to say no and follow through on the no......(such as over-commiting ourselves to things), when we are unwilling to sacrifice an extra hour of sleep on a cold morning to go to the gym, or when we say "just one more time" or I will start this next week, we are engaging in a dangerous addictive cycle.  We become stuck in the same behaviors to which  Sisyphus was condemned by the ancient Greek Gods.  His punishment for crimes against the Gods, was to eternally roll a large boulder up a hill and upon reaching the summit of the hill with great exertion, the boulder would roll to the bottom of the hill.  This was considered by all to be not only backbreaking work, but the added frustration of the fruitlessness of the effort in the end.

 Read More . . . 

Losing Weight, Rock Bottom, Addictions, and Resolutions

(Post share from the IRATAD Blog)

To better care four ourselves we need to pay attention to our physical, mental, social, and spiritual health and strive for a healthy balance amongst each of these dimensions.  Caring for our physical health involves more than just exercising.  We need to get adequate amounts of sleep, eat a healthy diet, and maintain good hygiene.  Caring for our mental health includes reducing stress, finding healthy and positive experiences in our daily life, being mindful of the present situation, and doing things that help us stay mentally sharp.  To care for our social needs we must engage in healthy activities with people who build us up and are positive influences on us; social isolation can lead to unhealthy thoughts and behaviors.  Finally, caring for our spiritual health involves being able to see beyond ourselves and see the big picture.  Spirituality involves being hopeful, recognizing our values, and doing things for the benefit of others.  People may connect with spirituality by reading religious or inspirational texts, meditation or prayer, or by being in nature.

 Read More . . . 

Tiny Habits Better Than Focusing on Big Changes

BJ Fogg, an instructor at Stanford, shares the idea that you can change by focusing on making super tiny changes instead of big ones, and then celebrating.

 

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Please share your thoughts about tiny habits in the reply area below.

Willpower and Change

(Post share from the IRATAD Blog)

Many times individuals who struggle with addiction have attempted to quit many times and have spent much of their energy criticizing themselves for not being "strong enough" or "disciplined enough". This is a very unhealthy loop and can lead to hopelessness, despair, and shame.  I recently read the book entitled "The Happiness Advantage" by Shawn Achor. Shawn Achor is a positive psychologist and his goal in life is to help people learn to be more positive and happy and in turn become more productive in their lives.   One of the priciples he discusses is willpower and why in the face of  great desire to change it is not enough to actually help us change.

 Read More . . .