Therapy and counseling are the backbones of nearly every addiction recovery program. These treatments allow you to understand the mechanisms behind your addiction. By identifying the underlying causes, you’ll be able to recognize your addictive behaviors and begin to replace them with something more positive.

For example, addiction may be the result of a long-buried trauma. Even if you’re not aware of it, this trauma could be creating a negative emotional response to seemingly ordinary situations on a daily basis. These responses can be difficult to handle and may lead someone down the road to addiction.

Therapy and counseling can help you unearth these difficult emotions, experiences, and memories. This might sound unpleasant, but doing this is the only way that you can stop them from controlling you.

The 12-Step Program is the cornerstone for the vast majority of addiction recovery programs across the world. The 12 Steps were pioneered by two recovering alcoholics in the early half of the 20th century when the damage wrought by alcoholism was obvious and yet drinkers had nowhere to turn if they wanted to stop drinking.

The 12 Steps will provide you with a framework and some tangible goals for helping you progress through your recovery. The 12 Steps are a continual process and one that you can continue to employ throughout life.

Not all recovery programs offer meditation and yoga, but at BlueCrest we value the importance of holistic treatment. Meditation and yoga are fantastic tools for helping to align the mind and body.

With regular practice, people who engage in either meditation or yoga can learn to recognize their emotions — including feelings like cravings and triggers. Meditation helps to separate you from the knee-jerk reaction to these feelings that can lead you toward relapse. Yoga helps you understand the relationship between your mind and body, thus preventing you from getting entirely overwhelmed by either physical or mental stimulation.

Group therapy and group meetings are a great way for recovering individuals to regain some of their confidence. Group meetings may be led by a counselor or therapist o they may be guided gently while the patients direct most of the conversation.

In either case, group sessions and meetings allow for people to share their stories, advice, and experiences overcoming addiction. This allows people to gain a level of insight that they might not be able to receive from a therapist who has never used drugs themselves.