Residential Rehab

Detox is tough, and if an addict attempts to get off heroin in their home environment, the lure of available drugs and an end to the suffering through further use can be extraordinarily difficult to resist. Medically supervised residential detox keeps the addict sequestered away from the home environment, and thus the availability of drugs; and offers medical personnel to ease the discomfort of withdrawal through prescription medications when appropriate.

Detox is only the first stage of treatment, and detox alone is not sufficient to keep an addict away from heroin for long. Residential heroin treatment facilities offer the addict enough time away from abuse to learn how to live and enjoy life without the drug. It also offers therapeutic programs designed to help the addict understand and overcome the basal causes for their abuse, the triggers that lead to further abuse, and to give them the life skills and coping strategies they will need to stay sober once reintegrated into the community.

What happens after detoxification

Individual counseling

Heroin dependency can be very emotionally damaging, and private therapy sessions with an addictions councilor or psychologist can help to alleviate some of the emotional distress caused by the addiction. The physical withdrawal can also leave feelings of depression and anxiety, and working through those feelings with a professional can be very beneficial. Additionally, there may be unresolved personal issues that led to the initial addiction, and if not conquered, are likely to spur a relapse once reintegrated into society. Private counseling sessions help an addict to better understand their addiction, the reasons why they use, and the strategies they need to use to stay sober once back in the community.

Peer counseling

A residential rehab facility offers addicts valuable insights into their own dependency through peer sessions with other addicts. Through group therapy, unique and individual suffering becomes collective, and addicts learn from one another that the devastation of a heroin addiction is shared, and resolvable. Peer group sessions are very effective in the treatment of any addiction.

Cognitive behavioral therapy

Given enough temptation it becomes impossible to avoid relapse, and as such behavioral modification therapies give a recovering addict the tools they'll need to minimize temptation once out of rehab. Cognitive therapy teaches how to avoid the social situations that make use more likely, and also to take personal responsibility for getting into these situations. These learned skills empower a heroin addict to avoid temptation, and minimize relapse.

General drug education

Heroin addicts learn about dependency and the damage that dependency can do to the body, to the soul and to the people they care about. With knowledge comes a greater understanding of addiction, and a greater ability to resist future temptation.

Health promotion and exercise

Sequestered rehab restores some of the health that is inevitably lost to a heroin addiction. Good nutrition, exercise, and a period of sobriety show the addict how good they can feel without drugs.