Outpatient treatment programs provide an opportunity for those struggling with substance addiction to work toward recovery without the need to stay in an inpatient facility. As a result, you can maintain your responsibilities, such as childcare and employment, while seeking treatment.
One of the biggest advantages of the outpatient treatment process is its access to peer support during recovery. Peer support offers numerous benefits that you may not benefit from — or at least not to such a great extent — when navigating recovery alone.
Here is an overview of the importance of peer support in outpatient treatment programs and how it can benefit you on your path.
What Does Peer Support Mean?
Peer support refers to a number of potential activities that form a regular part of outpatient treatment programs. Most often, it comes in the form of group meetups on a weekly basis for therapy.
However, it can also include other peer-centered support systems, such as accountability partners, mentors, and more.
The Tangible Benefits of Support from Peers
Peer support is an irreplaceable element of successful outpatient treatment programs. Studies tracing the effects of peer support have discovered that multiple benefits arise for participants who engage with support from their peers.
Some of the advantages of peer support during substance abuse treatment include:
Decline in Relapse
When a person participating in an outpatient treatment program engages with peer support, such as group therapy, their incidence of relapse goes down.
In one study, the original relapse rate of 24% decreased to just 7% once participants began relying on their peers in the treatment program for support.
This change indicates that exposure to others who are familiar with your struggles in a personal way can spur you on to success. Similarly, peers are more able to support each other since they are working toward the same goals.
As a result, patients who rely on peer support relapse less frequently than those navigating recovery by themselves. When people determine their actions because they care about the impression given to their close group, this is called peer pressure.
However, in cases such as addiction recovery in which this force leads to favorable change, it is called positive pressure — and peer support offers positive pressure during recovery.
Increased Commitment
Another factor that researchers found among groups that structured recovery around peer support was an increase in commitment to recovery. Fewer participants stopped attending their treatment programs when they were part of a group of peers compared to sole participants in a care plan.
This increase in commitment is thought to come from a sense of camaraderie and safety among a group of similar individuals facing familiar challenges. This leads to a greater number of participants finishing their treatment program, resulting in graduates who are more equipped with the skills to succeed.
Establishment of Long-Term Scaffolds
One of the biggest advantages of working alongside peers to overcome addiction is that you tend to build strong relationships along the way. Having this common ground allows participants to become friends with their peers, which establishes relationships that can continue to serve them long after the treatment program concludes.
Having long-term friendships established during recovery can build a scaffold to support the individual and inhibit relapse. Friends can provide accountability and empathy during times of struggle, decreasing the need to return to a substance as a coping device.
Increased Awareness of Resources
One of the largest challenges throughout rehabilitation and long-term recovery is feeling that you are alone or unmoored when challenges arise. One of the leading causes of relapse is an inability to cope with a stressor due to insufficient support structures that turn the individual back to a reliance on a substance.
Peer support during outpatient treatment programs can combat this phenomenon by providing a robust network of resources.
Others in your group may have found apps, books, mentors, or other programs that are working well for them — and that you have never heard of. By increasing your reach through peers, you gain greater access to and awareness of resources that can support your journey to recovery.
Try Peer Support in an Outpatient Treatment Program
Outpatient treatment is a means of overcoming substance addiction that allows you to maintain much of your normal lifestyle. However, you must still take your path to recovery seriously — and part of that is relying on peers for support.
Those who try to navigate this process alone are less successful than those who build a strong peer network. The experts at Aquila Recovery Clinic in Washington DC encourage our outpatient group participants to build strong relationships as they complete treatment together.
Contact Aquila Recovery Clinic to sign up for outpatient treatment.