When individuals enter West Coast Recovery Centers, they are given assistance not only with their substance abuse issues but also provided with trauma treatment and education. This is an integral part of treatment and recovery.
What Constitutes Trauma?
Individuals that have substance abuse issues often exhibit signs of trauma. This trauma may be recent or in the distant past. Regardless of where trauma comes from, it is important to discuss.
When we talk about trauma, we are discussing damage or injury to an individual’s psyche. This occurs after living through an extremely frightening or distressing event. It often results in challenges in functioning and coping normally.
There are three types of trauma:
- Acute trauma results from a specific incident
- Chronic trauma is a result of prolonged or repeated incidents, such as abuse
- Complex trauma results from exposure to multiple traumatic events, often of an interpersonal nature
Can Trauma Treatment and Education Add to Client Understanding?
A client entering a recovery program may not fully understand the reasons for their substance abuse issues. There are quite a number of people who have suppressed trauma or refuse to believe there is a connection between trauma and addiction.
To fully understand their condition, it is important for them to tackle whatever issues may exist in their past in order for them to continue forward. Trauma education teaches them not only how to identify personal trauma but just how profound its effects can be.
How Does Trauma Treatment and Education Fit Into Outpatient Treatment?
Outpatient programs exist outside of closed facilities and allow individuals to continue their lives while attending a daily care program. Due to this particular setup, clients have the opportunity to take what they have learned back into the real world.
Outpatient staff can utilize this time to discover new and more helpful ways of assisting clients. Some clients may find that they are having trouble reconciling their trauma when it comes to dealing with people. They may find that their need for acceptance is hindered by the shame of their trauma.
Staff will take this knowledge and consider new ways of approaching client needs as they attempt to reintegrate into society as a healthier version of themselves. It allows people to slowly learn about the extent and impact of their personal trauma. This may include discussions outside of treatment with family and friends. It is the ability to test and learn to rely on their social safety networks.
When a person is able to confront their trauma, they can begin to accept assistance. Because of this, West Coast Recovery Centers works with a client’s social safety network. We establish what the individual will be experiencing, how it may affect them outside of treatment, and the ways loved ones can help.
The goal is to create an environment of learning that will put clients on a better footing as they head into the post-treatment world. Through education and treatment, clients are able to dissect their trauma in a safe environment with the knowledge that they are supported both inside and outside the outpatient program.
West Coast Recovery Centers’ Commitment to Client Education
When people enter a recovery center, they may not realize the depth of their issues. It may first seem as though the surface-level problems, those of substance abuse, are the only pieces they need to work on.
At West Coast Recovery Centers, clients are looked at as individuals with their own backgrounds and sets of needs. By seeing clients in this way, we can help individuals define where they are, what brought them there, and how to get to the next point.
Part of discovering what brought them to the outpatient program at West Coast Recovery Centers is educating them on the basics of trauma. Once this has been established, medical professionals can help clients zero in on the specifics of their own cases.
West Coast Recovery Centers is well aware that many people do not understand the complex nature of trauma and how insidious it can be. That is why we introduce it as a concept before truly allowing someone to explore how it has affected them. In many of these cases, clients may be surprised to know that loved ones have had, or are having, similar reactions to the same trauma. This is when it is vital for the recovery center to interact with the client’s social safety network.
Education is critical in substance abuse treatment. For clients at West Coast Recovery Centers, the only way forward is to take a look back. Reconciliation with oneself and one’s past trauma is part of the core program that allows recovery programs to place people on the path to healing. For people attempting this journey, there is no better place than a quality outpatient recovery program.
There are many pieces to trauma treatment. It involves both group therapy and individual therapy. However, West Coast Recovery Centers believes that one of the most important pieces must be education. People must be aware of the causes of trauma and the possible stigmas surrounding them. This will lead to educated individuals, not to mention more acceptance in their communities. At West Coast Recovery Centers, our program can create a sense of value behind education. Everyone is affected in some way by trauma, and a subset may have more than a little trouble dealing with it. We are ready to help. For more information, call West Coast Recovery Centers at (760) 492-6509.