After Our Inpatient Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centers
Post-Rehab Support
The Continuing Life Process Plan© after graduation is a valuable component of the Life Process Model©. After a stay at the St. Gregory Retreat Center and graduating from the Life Process Model©, guests will have new life skills to return home and begin a new life. Throughout the course of their stay, the Life Process Plan© is developed around those tools. This plan entails both short and long-term goals that one has identified for themselves as well as detailed steps to achieve those goals. It is not a short sighted effort to maintain sobriety, but it is focused on the positive aspects of one's life and the long-term accomplishments he or she wishes to strive for. It is a new outline towards personal satisfaction and fulfillment previously sought out through addiction and substance abuse. A Life Process Plan© will include several elements including: personal goals, career aspirations, repairing family relationships, rebuilding a positive social network and for some, more deeply exploring their faith. It is completely individualized and based on the needs of each guest according to what is necessary to find true purpose and happiness in their lives. Implementing this Life Process Plan© is where the real-life progress begins.
Before graduation, a Continuing Life Process Plan© advisor will sit down with each guest and review his or her Life Process Plan© and develop a detailed follow up schedule. Guests are encouraged to involve their family members in the Continuing Life Process Plan© for additional support. After graduation from the program, guests will be in communication with their advisor while they work on implementing their Life Process Plan©. Advisors are always available for support, questions from family members, and to help utilize the tools learned in the Life Process Model©.
As Dr. Peele states, "Research has consistently shown that treatment is most effective so long as regular follow-up contacts are scheduled with clients. Indeed, the research indicates that the follow-ups are the critical dimension to successful outcomes. This occurs because patients' awareness that they will be contacted focuses their attention on preserving the benefits of treatment. In addition, when patients are able to gain support - even if only by telephone contact - at key points (for example, when under stress, feeling cravings, or requiring reminders of techniques they have learned), they can reprise the gains they made through therapy and will succeed better over time".
References
Babor, T., & Grant, M. (Eds.) (1997). Project on identification and management of alcohol related problems: A randomized clinical trial of brief interventions in primary health care.(Geneva: WHO).
Fleming, M.F., Mundt, M.P., French, M.T., Manwell, L.B., Stauffacher, E.A., & Barry, K.L. (2002). Brief physician advice for problem drinkers: Long-term efficacy and benefit-cost analysis. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 26, 36-43.
Miller, W.R., Brown, J.M., Simpson, T.L., Handmaker, N.S., Bien, T.H., Luckie, L.F., Montgomery, H.A., Hester, R.K., and Tonigan, J.S. (1995). What works?: A methodological analysis of the alcohol treatment outcome literature. In R.K. Hester and W.R. Miller (Eds.), Handbook of alcoholism treatment approaches (2nd Ed., pp. 12-44). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Project MATCH Research Group. (1997). Matching alcoholism treatments to client heterogeneity: Project MATCH post treatment drinking outcomes. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 58, 7-29.