Recovery and Environment

When I worked in an inpatient addiction treatment facility in the 80s, when patients were admitted they were isolated from outside influences, especially alcohol and other drugs. The idea at the time was to remove all external distractions so the patient could immerse themselves in treatment. This wasn’t necessarily a bad idea for the beginning of treatment, but most patients were isolated for about 30 days with no outside contact, and counselors tended to forget about the environment to which the patient would return at discharge. Well, the counselors didn’t quite forget, because a discharge plan was developed to recommend aftercare actions, like attending AA or NA, but there wasn’t enough preparation for the patient to adjust to the environment. There also wasn’t a good understanding of how the environment affects recovery. We all made the mistake of placing too much importance within the person for achieving their own recovery. Just because a month of isolation and immersion in recovery produces marked change in an individual, this doesn’t mean that the change will last once the person returns to their environment. If alcohol and other drugs are present, and if there is no understanding among the people closest to the recovering individual, then recovery can be sabotaged.

It’s true that the individual has to take actions or nothing happens, but it’s also true that if family members, employers and friends don’t have a good understanding of addiction and recovery, they can have a very negative affect on an individual’s recovery. If alcohol and other drugs are always present in the recovering person’s environment, then it will be hard to resist using them again. Treatment providers gradually understood the importance of bringing the employer, family, family physician, friends and anyone else critical to the recovering person into the recovery process. We know now that recovery is a long term process that requires a plan, support from the family and community, and ongoing learning regarding what’s necessary for recovery from addiction. No one is obligated to support anyone else in recovery, but most people will are eager to support someone they care about if they’re informed about the condition and what it takes to manage recovery.