No single person can make a good recovery. To help someone go through treatment and start living a clean life involves the efforts of a group. One of the roles of a team is to hold a person with a substance use disorder accountable.
Accountability becomes a standard component of recovery from the minute therapy begins. Let's look at some of the ways responsibility manifests itself in recovery and how it serves a client today.
The importance of accountability in the rehabilitation process cannot be overstated. It assists a client in developing the ability to accept responsibility for their drug or alcohol usage. Mandatory features in a program, such as a drug testing or group therapy, provide certain types of accountability.
Other kinds arise due to being asked to create specific recovery goals and spending time in family therapy, where accountability to family members is a top priority.
Accountability requires taking responsibility for your actions.
It's common to blame individuals or external situations for one's drinking or drug addiction. However, accepting responsibility for your substance use does not necessitate critical self-evaluation.
Examining what variables may have led to your drinking or drug use is an essential part of taking responsibility. A co-occurring mental health issue may have exacerbated it, such as depression, anxiety, or trauma.
Accountability isn't a punishment; it's an opportunity.
It is self-destructive to regard accountability as a sinister component of treatment. Sober living can help reinforce this because one of the best benefits is that you want to be accountable to your friends naturally. Its goal is to get you ready for the sober life you want. It allows you to experience what it takes to start healing and stay in recovery long after the program has concluded.
Accountability can come from setting clear goals and targets in recovery.
It's not enough to make vague or imprecise references to getting sober. Staying accountable in a program requires being explicit about the type of drug use you engage in and what you want to change about it.
Accountability can be reinforced during daily or weekly schedules.
Structure and routine are beneficial to someone addicted to drugs or alcohol. Sticking to their daily responsibilities and leaving less room for the unstructured time when substance use can become routine will help individuals stay on track with their recovery.
Accountability encourages you to be candid when sharing in therapy or with your support system.
Sobriety does not come through declaring that you are fine without drugs or alcohol. It comes from being prepared to resist the urge to use and having the ability to switch to other activities. They realize that healing begins with being honest with themselves and others when encouraged to be authentic in therapy.
Accountability protocols can be formal and mandatory.
At Serenity Falls, we do random drug tests. Random drug testing is an unavoidable kind of accountability. The testing reveals whether or not someone is abusing substances. These types of assessments serve as a reminder that you must commit to being sober every day. Find out more here.
Accountability can involve spouses, partners, and family members.
Clients are family unit members, and they may require reminders about their interpersonal interactions. When these family members attend family therapy, they have the opportunity to directly tell their loved ones how substance abuse has affected them.
Clients can start to see how their decisions affect others and what work is required to mend such connections.
Accountability is created naturally in group settings.
In a Sober Living context, accountability emerges organically. It's beneficial to be among other people working on their recovery. Being in this setting daily or weekly serves as a reminder to stay focused on your sobriety goals.
You'll want to bring up some pleasant news. You'll also learn how relapsed addicts are pushed to retake responsibility for their actions.
Skill-building activities can enhance accountability.
Living a sober life isn't the only way to heal your whole self. Other essential methods to be accountable to people while in recovery are activities that require you to work as part of a group. It could be a game or activity where everyone must collaborate to achieve a common goal. You're strengthening your character by performing in these ways.
Accountability reminds you how actions speak louder than words.
If no work is done to maintain recovery goals, the pledge to be clean and sober can be empty. Being held accountable to others might serve as a reminder that the decisions you make reveal far more about your intentions than anything else.