16 Nov How Does My Addiction Counselor Help Me Through Treatment?
A certified counselor can help you through treatment in many ways. While you’re going through treatment, there is an overwhelming amount of fear which needs to be addressed and balanced on a daily basis – this is primarily where a counselor can be lifesaving.
One of the most important things a good counselor can do is to create a structured treatment plan customized to each individual and their needs. In order to do this effectively, a counselor will look back into more deeply rooted behaviors that are ingrained in the individual over the years – for example, alcoholism in the household growing up, being bullied in school or even a specific traumatic event in their childhood. Events through life can have significant negative impacts on a person, but if those past experiences are brought to the surface, explored and processed with a counselor, those dark clouds looming over us can dissipate and allow the sun to shine through over time.
These processes are long and need a lot of work done by both a counselor as well as the individual, but by having an open, honest communication, they are able to work as a team in order for the individual to have success in recovery and live a content, productive and wonderful life. A counselor will track progression, regression, changes and much more through the individuals treatment and meet the client where they are at in order to be as effective as possible throughout their recovery and will assist the individual in utilizing real-life skills in order to process and handle emotions in other ways free of drugs, alcohol or other negative and detrimental behaviors.
Another important piece to a counselor’s role in an individual’s recovery is teaching the person to rewire their thoughts and change the way they think. There is a strong likelihood that the individual is very down on themselves, constantly focusing on everything they’ve done wrong but never right; this is often referred to as negative self-talk.
Negative “self-talk” is an understandable thing in early recovery – always being asked, “Why can’t you just stop?” or being told, “You’re weak,” or partaking in behaviors uncharacteristic of their moral compass all serve to make those negative voices louder and more prominent.
A counselor will teach positive actions or ways to cope with these negative thoughts, and through these positive actions such as working, volunteering, being a peer recovery coach or a mentor to someone else, the negative thoughts will begin to fade away. A counselor will assist the individual in seeing these things and teach them to see the good in themselves.
Generally speaking, the aid from a counselor is a crucial partnership for every individual going through their own recovery process. They serve as a compassionate and caring ear, can offer experience and advice and serve as a “teammate” in the journey assisting the individual through the inevitable trials and tribulations of treatment.
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