Recovery communities play an active and important role throughout one’s recovery journey. Whether an individual is battling substance abuse or overcoming mental health disorders, one’s community plays an integral role in the development of effective techniques and new values and goals.
Finding the right community can shape one’s entire journey inside and outside of the recovery sphere, and finding the right one is crucial for developing an effective recovery roadmap. Therefore, before jumping into a recovery facility, it may be best to take a moment to decide what one’s best recovery environment may look like and how the recovery communities available can aid in one’s personal goals and mindset while embodying one’s desired change.
The Importance of Finding the Right Community
Finding the right community is a major part of the recovery process. Not only can one’s acceptance into a recovery community be a testament to one’s development of social skills, but these communities in turn hold a lot of influence over one’s recovery.
While they can be amazing tools for healing, they can also hold one back by instilling values that may not align with one’s personal goals or may not provide the kind of support that resonates with one’s ideas of healing. The right community is something to be treasured. The impact that one’s community has over all other aspects of their recovery is profound enough that each individual should take some time to choose the one that is right for them.
Shared Goals
Shared goals are an important part of the recovery process. Having similar goals as others can aid in the development of personalized recovery strategies. Setting goals to maintain one’s sobriety, tackle social anxiety, reform one’s language, and more, are all potent aspects of one’s life, and sharing these goals can bring an empowering sense of acceptance.
However, sharing goals does not necessarily mean that one must also closely share experiences. Having others around who can understand the struggles that one faces can be powerful. It is also important to mix this crowd with others who may have also suffered from addiction and went about their recovery with different strategies in mind. Doing so offers a new perspective on one’s own recovery, introducing new insights or recovery strategies that may not have been apparent for an individual if left to their own devices. This mixing of strategies working towards a similar goal can provide a great wealth of options, techniques, and recovery modalities for one’s own recovery plans.
Community Size
Different communities also come in different sizes. While some can be large, offering a plethora of people ready to share their experiences, smaller communities also have incredible benefits. Smaller groups can allow each individual more time to discuss their personal journey and develop closer, more intimate relationships with those in one’s community, further developing social skills and trust. Deciding the size of the recovery group desired can help each individual find the recovery community that may be more effective for them.
Community Demographics
Different communities are also extraordinarily varied in their demographics. Addiction and mental health disorders can affect an individual at any age, with a great breadth of severity and consequence. A community’s demographics can either help an individual feel more accepted or ostracized based on the others in regular attendance.
Age, gender, and profession all play a role in the development of any particular recovery community. Finding a community that is closer to one’s experiences or identity can help an individual feel more accepted, understood, and welcome to a given community. This can create more effective communication and the development of trust.
Accountability and Support
Effective recovery communities will offer support, but it may not always be in the form of unconditional forgiveness. These recovery communities will know when to help an individual through a challenge, but will not shy away from holding members accountable and responsible for their actions throughout recovery.
Recovery is tough and comes with a lot of ups and downs. Having effective support that keeps each individual accountable for their decisions during this time can feel harsh, but it is also necessary for each person to understand the consequences of their actions to promote healing.
Consistency and Attendance
Lastly, recovery communities are only effective as long as there are those in attendance. Knowing how many meetings take place a week, how long they each last, and the regular attendance and turnout of these communities can illuminate how serious each community is about its dedication to a healthy recovery. Finding communities where individuals maintain regular attendance and active participation is a sign of a great community with which to begin one’s own recovery journey.
Your community plays an integral role throughout every stage of recovery. At Everlast Recovery, our home-like, supportive atmosphere is curated to help you feel accepted at our recovery community, building upon feelings of trust while building on each others’ strengths and supporting each other through areas of vulnerability. By personalizing your time with us through education and various therapeutic modalities, we can best explore your unique strengths and experience in your recovery journey while developing the right community for you to continue moving towards your sober goals and ambitions. Between art therapy, music, yoga, mindfulness practices, and individualized therapies, our community of acceptance and exploration is ready to accept you today. Your recovery community is important, and ours is ready to help you from your first step in recovery and through every milestone to come. For more information on how we can personalize your time with us or to speak to a caring staff member, call (866) 338-6925.
