Getting back on the wagon after relapsing

Don't let a relapse prevent you from reclaiming your sobriety.

Relapsing after enjoying hard-won sobriety is the fear of every person who struggles with substances. There’s nothing more heartbreaking for you and your loved ones than getting some recovery time under your belt, only to fall back into the addiction cycle again.

Though it might seem easier to get back into recovery once you have been there before, and know how to do it, sometimes it's not that straightforward. Getting out of a relapse can take a long time – months or even years. Addiction is a powerful force and hard to crack. Some people never manage to ever leave their relapse and return to sobriety.

Getting back on the wagon after relapsing

As anyone who's ever tried to stay stopped drinking will tell you, it's not easy. But getting back on the wagon after relapsing can be done, especially if you have the right support.

Here are tips from the expert team of clinicians and Ocean Hills to help get you back into sobriety:

1. Break the secret: Tell people who will support you that you have relapsed.

2. Ask for help: Set yourself up for success by working with professionals - such as the team at Ocean Hills, or your local community services and support groups.

3. Learn from what worked before: Think back to the things that helped you get sober in the past. Was it attending a rehab? Was it joining a support group?

4. Get into a healthy routine: A key part of sobriety is practicing self care, like eating three meals a day, drinking enough water, gentle movement and exercise and sticking to regular sleep and wake times.

5. Remove or reduce stress: Avoid triggers as much as possible when you're trying to get back into recovery. That might be social occasions that centre around alcohol, staying away from people who don't support your sobriety and putting yourself under too much pressure in any part of your life.

Although relapse is always a risk for anyone in recovery, it doesn't have to be inevitable. As long as you aware of the risks, you can plan to avoid the triggers that will send you back to drink and drugs quicker than you can say, "I don’t mind if I do".

Practicing good self care, such as getting regular, good-quality sleep, helps to prevent relapse.

Other ways to prevent relapse and keep your sobriety strong

1. Support: join a support group that’s dedicated to supporting people staying clean. Whether it’s a 12-step group or other types of peer group support or communities, they are proven to help people stay out of the relapse cycle. Ocean Hills runs a weekly Aftercare Programme for our guests, who can attend for as long as they want to after completing a rehab programme with us.

2. Get positive people in your life: if you hang out with sober people who are living a clean life, you’re likely to say sober yourself. And … if you hang out with people who are drinking and using, guess what? Yep, you’re likely to do the same.

3. HALT: This stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired and is a self-care mantra in recovery circles. The idea is if you feel any HALT triggers, stop whatever you’re doing and meet your needs in a healthy way. This might mean eating, processing emotions in a positive way, seeking out good company, or resting. Looking after yourself in healthy ways means you’re less likely to use drink or drugs to feel better.

4. Find healthy coping strategies: Life is guaranteed to deliver you plenty of ups and downs and developing healthy coping skills is crucial to staying clean and sober. It’s different for everyone but some common coping strategies include talking through problems with trusted friends, having a spiritual practice, writing, exercising, art, music, cooking, gardening, meditation and being in nature.

5. Stay alert: Never forget that relapse is only as far as away as the end of your arm. Recovery takes work but if you find a recipe that works for you, you will stay sober one day

at a time.

Like podcasts? Listen to the Falling off the Wagon episode of the Ocean Hills Addicted to Recovery podcast here.

ATR Falling off the Wagon

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If you need to talk to someone about recovering from a relapse, call Ocean Hills founder Elaine Atkinson on 027 573 7744 or contact the team here.