Going to mental health rehab can be both challenging and deeply rewarding. When mental illness is at its worst, everyday life can seem overwhelming. Reality can be distorted, so sometimes people in treatment or family members have understandable fears about what post-rehab life will be like. However, with preparation and focus, there are ways for you or your loved one to navigate the transition and re-engage in life successfully and joyfully. Here are some tips for making the most of life after mental health rehab.
Would you like to learn more about our alumni program? Call us today at 1.844.675.1022 for more information.
Life After Rehab Tip #1: What will my living situation be?
What life will look like after mental health rehab depends on what the living situation will be, and that decision should be based on individual factors that best suit your personal needs. There is a wide range of housing possibilities, ranging from arrangements that involve round-the-clock care to fully independent living.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness notes that choosing the right type of housing, based on what type of assistance you need with things like cleaning, paying bills, or making appointments, can help you focus on what’s most crucial: your recovery. Agencies may vary slightly in the terms they use for various housing situations, but options include the following:
Group housing (often called group homes)
In fully supervised group housing, staff members are available at all times to provide needed assistance. This can include help with medication, meals, transportation, and more. The homes generally provide residents with a mix of personal and shared living space. Partially supervised group housing facilities are similar, but the staff is only there during certain hours. When staff members aren’t present, residents can call for help if they need it.
Supportive housing
In supportive (sometimes called supported) housing situations, affordable, mostly independent housing is paired with coordinated services. Details vary, but it’s common for residents to pay 30 percent or less of their income for rent and have the lease in their own names. Residents aren’t required to accept help, but service providers may check on them to determine if there are needs they can help meet. Mental health professionals and case managers are among the potential service providers who may be involved.
Living with family members
Whether a person with a significant mental illness history should live at home with family members can sometimes be a complicated decision. Factors to consider include those related to the patient, such as level of functionality and compliance with treatment, and those related to the family environment, such as whether interpersonal interactions are relaxed and whether other family members, especially young children, may be negatively affected. Addressing family dynamics can be an important part of life after mental health rehab, and research shows that interventions that involve family members are effective in promoting mental health wellness and lowering the illness relapse rate.
Tip #2: Stick to a daily schedule and routine
It’s helpful for the return to daily life to be similar to what worked during mental health treatment. This generally means developing a schedule and sticking to it as much as possible. In a group home, staff members will generally help residents maintain a routine that includes regular mealtimes, bedtimes and times for taking medications. If you or your loved one live independently, you may want to print out a schedule or set alarms to serve as memory prompts. If necessary, someone can call every day at a specific time to give needed reminders about essential activities.
The routine you follow at home doesn’t need to be the same as what you followed during treatment. You may want to slightly vary mealtimes and bedtime, for instance, to match your personal biological rhythms better. It’s important, though, to make sure you’re getting adequate rest and nutrition, and having a regular schedule that doesn’t vary much from day to day can be a critical factor in meeting that goal.
Maintaining the prescribed dosing schedule for taking medications is especially important since problems can arise if levels in your body dip too low or climb too high. It’s easy to forget or decide not to take your meds when you’re feeling stable, but if you’ve been prescribed medication, it’s because your practitioners believe that’s what you need to maintain the stability you’ve achieved.
Tip #3: Build on what you learned in rehab
You may have learned or improved your skills in areas like stress reduction, communication, problem-solving, and anger management. Now’s the time to put the lessons into practice. All skills take time to fully perfect, so be patient with yourself, but keep working on turning new practices into habits that will improve your life.
Stress reduction activities may include exercise, meditation, journaling, and focused breathing. Adding them to your personal schedule and routine after treatment is an excellent idea. It’s also smart to be proactive about doing healthy things that bring you peace and joy, such as drawing, listening to music, or getting out in nature. .
Tip #4: Continue to evolve with your therapy sessions
Be an active participant in therapy sessions and treat each one as an opportunity for someone with training and experience to help you discern what’s working for you and what needs to be tweaked or modified. A review published in the Journal of Public Health (JPH) found that the number of treatment sessions was positively associated with recovery success and was especially important for people with co-occurring disorders. The nature of the relationship between therapist and client had a more significant effect on outcomes than the specific type of treatment did, but cognitive behavioral therapy proved to be helpful for many people.
Tip #5: Find your social support tribe
Maintain social contact with friends, family members, or others in recovery. The JPH review concluded that social support and function were very important predictors of positive treatment outcomes. When barriers to social engagement were addressed, through things like transportation, flexible scheduling, and childcare, results improved. Even online or phone-based social interaction can be very helpful.
Tip #6: Celebrate your successes
You are amazing! The recovery progress can have its ups and downs, so finding a way to monitor and be encouraged by your victories is important. Perhaps you can make a chart of goals and objectives or a checklist of activities you’d like to complete in a day or week. If you aren’t able to check everything off the list, then rejoice in the ones you did manage to accomplish and let the unchecked tasks serve as a reminder of things you’d like to do differently in order to meet your goals.
The Future Looks Bright
People with physical health disorders like heart disease or diabetes have to monitor their progress and modify treatment when necessary, which sometimes means a return to a hospital or clinic setting. Mental health conditions are no different. Whatever your needs, we’re on your side. We want to see you succeed, and we’re ready to help you do it. For help, call us today at 1.844.675.1022.
