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Who Answers?Many rehab programs utilize Alcoholics Anonymous and similar programs to create friendships between patients and promote social support. But can AA help you make friendships that will actually last beyond rehab, and how can you take steps to make these relationships endure?
AA as Part of Rehab Treatment
A great many rehab facilities utilize group therapy and 12-step programs to help patients recover and avoid relapse, even those providing inpatient-based services. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “These groups offer an added layer of community-level support to help people in recovery with abstinence and other healthy lifestyle goals.”
When AA becomes a part of treatment, patients receive additional benefits that other treatment programs without this option may not be able to provide. One of those is the creation of friendships that can actually last beyond rehab.
Relationships Built Through AA Can Endure
Staying involved in AA after rehab will strengthen your friendships.
Patients will often become very close to one another while attending rehab and AA meetings together. This closeness is due in part to one of the most important ideas that predominates the program: the “active involvement in 12-step meetings and related activities” (NIDA).
While it may become harder for patients to keep these relationships going after the initial rehab stay has ended, they can also continue these through attending AA meetings after rehab is over.
AA meetings can be attended in and out of formal addiction treatment, and the bonds people make through the program are enduring. If you meet someone in treatment you want to stay close to, even if you live far from one another, you can always make the decision to both continue going to AA meetings. You will know that you have one important aspect in common that will make your friendship more likely to endure: your recoveries and your involvement in AA.
How Can I Make These Friendships Last?
There are a number of ways you can help ensure that your friendships made through AA in addiction rehab will last, even if you live far away from one another.
- Continuing to stay involved in AA will not only give you a common ground in your friendship but will also be effective for your overall recovery.
- Writing letters longhand, sending emails, or making sure to call each other once in a while can help solidify your friendship and allow you to both know the other is there when you need them.
- Consider working on a project together that advocates sobriety. You will both feel closer to one another and stronger in your respective recoveries.
- Invite one another to meet the other members of your support network, including friends and family. This level of intimacy can create a stronger bond between you and your friend and give you more to discuss with one another.
The Benefits Of Group Therapy During Addiction Recovery
If you need treatment for alcohol use disorder or another form of addiction, consider the benefits of group therapy, one of several treatment approaches used in the treatment of substance use disorders. Addiction is a progressive disease that affects every part of a person’s life.1 Addiction treatment program therapies are designed to address different aspects…
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