4 factors that lead to a successful recovery from drugs and alcohol

If you have struggled with your drug or alcohol use, maybe you have heard of or tried many different approaches to help you quit or moderate your use. From 12-step meetings to weekly therapy, inpatient and outpatient rehab programs, to trying to do it all yourself, there are many different recommendations for how to best navigate your drug and alcohol use. Ultimately, the best approach for how to tackle addiction will vary depending on the specific circumstance and person. Things like which drug you are using, how much of it you are using, how long you have been using it, and other factors will greatly influence the recommended approach.

In my years as a counselor, I have seen many people navigate struggles with drugs and alcohol. From my experience there are several factors that regardless of which treatment method is applied, will predictably contribute to the chances of a successful outcome. I have found that the people who apply the four strategies listed below tend to have much higher success rates with their drug and alcohol use goals. Here are the four factors I have seen to be most helpful in a successful recovery. 

1. Clarity

The first step in a successful recovery is to get crystal clear with yourself on what your drug or alcohol use goals are. If you go into your recovery thinking “I’d like to drink less” or “I need to stop getting high all the time”, you are setting yourself up to fudge the truth and change your goals along the way. “Less” and “all the time” are subjective measures, and because addiction can mess with your subjective experience, these wishy washy goals wont be strong enough to hold you accountable when the cravings come.

Instead, try setting for yourself a crystal clear, measurable goal that you can hold yourself to. I like using the SMART goals acronym when setting drug and alcohol goals. SMART stands for:

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Time based

Using a SMART goal in recovery would look like “I want to drink less than 10 drinks a week for the next four weeks” or “I want to take 30 days off of cannabis starting today”. SMART goals will help you ground your recovery in objectively verifiable measures and will help you motivate yourself towards clear specific outcomes.

Take a moment right now to set a SMART goal for yourself and write it down.

2.  Containment

Containment is making sure your environment is conducive to your success. If you would like to cut down on drinking, but you have 20 beers in your fridge, your environment is not well contained for you to meet your goals. Containment can mean any action step that puts a barrier between you and your drug of choice, and helps you contain yourself in an environment that is conducive to success. Some common containment strategies I recommend are:

- Deleting and blocking your dealer’s number from your phone
- Removing all drugs, alcohol, and paraphernalia from your home
- Avoiding bars or nightclubs
- Not inviting anyone over who might bring drugs or alcohol with them
- Not hosting or going to any parties where drugs or alcohol might be present
- Disallowing drugs or alcohol in your home

What you are doing here is simply creating barriers or interruptions between you and your drug of choice. You are preparing yourself for the moment a craving hits and your motivation drops. If in that moment, there are lots of drugs in your space, it will be very easy to relapse. If you cleanse your space from any drugs or alcohol or temptations, you can weather the storm of cravings without relapsing because it will be much harder to access drugs or alcohol in that moment.

Take a moment and write down a containment strategy you could use to distance yourself from the drug you are trying to quit or moderate.

3. Community

This is perhaps the most important factor I have seen in a successful recovery. Engaging in a recovery community, whether that is going to meetings, talking with a therapist, or even just letting your friends in on your struggle, takes recovery out of isolation and involves other people in your process. This is also the step most people have the biggest aversion to. Telling other people about your problems, especially strangers, can feel very vulnerable. I have found though, that people who involve other people in their recovery are much more likely to succeed at their goals.

Community and recovery can look many different kinds of ways. Here are some example of people or communities that can support you in your recovery journey:

- 12-step meetings
- Alternative drug and alcohol recovery meetings
- Online forums
- Drug and alcohol therapist or counselor
- Friends, partners, or parents

Getting in touch with other people can be extremely helpful for your recovery process because it allows you not to feel so alone and the other person or people can help hold you accountable for your goals. As writer Johan Hari states in his TED talk Everything you thing you know about addiction is wrong: “the opposite of addiction is not sobriety, it is human connection”.

Take a moment now to write down one community or person that you can involve in your recovery to help you on your path.

4. Consistency

Being consistent in your recovery means engaging in a recovery related activity at least once per day. More is better, but once per day seems to be a good frequency to keep you on track. Because addiction and drug use can affect you so deeply, it is not uncommon to feel extremely motivated one day and be ready to relapse the next. This is why it is important that you get into a regular routine of daily reminders of why you are wanting to address your drug use, so that when those cravings hit, you already have the support network set up around you.

Talking to a therapist once per week is often not enough to address a serious drug habit. Engaging in your recovery community, or simply texting a friend about how you are doing can help keep you on track. Here are some recovery related activities you can do daily:

- Go to a meeting
- Make a post on an online forum about how you are doing
- Call or text someone who you can update on your recovery
- Have a therapy session

Consistent engagement in your recovery is extremely helpful for you to reach success in your drug or alcohol use goals.

Take the time right now to schedule in your calendar one recovery related activity you will do this week.

In conclusion

Recovery is not an easy path, but you don’t have to do it alone. There are straight forward steps you can take that will greatly increase your chances of reaching your drug and alcohol use goals. Give yourself the gift of support and take the time to write out some actionable steps you can take today that will take you one step closer to where you’d like to be in relation to drugs and alcohol.

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Are you struggling with your drug or alcohol use? Do you need more support or have any questions about the strategies outlined above? I offer compassionate and effective drug and alcohol counseling in Santa Cruz and online for anyone in California to help you meet your drug and alcohol use goals. Reach out today to schedule a free and confidential 20 minute consultation to see if I could be a good fit to help you.