Recovery can be a lengthy process, and it is often difficult for clients to see their growth and development in the journey. Likewise, clients may lose themselves in the recovery journey, not knowing what direction they are heading in or not seeing anticipated progress. Losing hope is common, valid, and normal in the recovery process. However, there are steps one can take to ground oneself and keep oneself mindfully engaged in the journey. Progress tracking is one way to achieve this.
At First Steps Recovery, clients are encouraged to track their progress and make a mindful effort to focus on themselves throughout recovery.
What Is Progress Tracking?
Progress tracking or self-tracking is a way clients can collect their personal information and reflect on it. This can be done in many forms including goal-setting, mood-tracking, habit-tracking, etc. In tracking progress, clients see firsthand their journey in recovery. Especially with daily tracking, clients can see upward progress rather than lose sight of the purpose of recovery. In other words, progress tracking keeps clients moving forward, motivating them to continue recovery and visualize a happier and healthier future.
Progress tracking can be used for both addiction and mental health. For addiction, clients may use progress tracking to track their overall feelings or mood during each day. Some may also track their withdrawal symptoms early in the recovery journey following detoxification. For mental health, clients may track their mental health symptoms or good habits they practiced that day. Generally, progress tracking is a very personal habit catered to the needs of the individual.
How Does Progress Tracking Help Improve the Recovery Experience?
Progress tracking helps improve the recovery experience because clients are able to take control of their recovery. By seeing their progression, clients become more motivated to continue their good work. Clients are also encouraged to self-reflect, allowing them to recognize why they had a bad day or what helped them have a good day in relation to their long-term goals. They develop a better understanding of their habits, good and bad, and their feelings while in recovery. This deeper understanding helps clients reconnect with themselves and develop a greater sense of control over themselves.
When in recovery and tracking one’s progress, the client is also able to understand what services they need more than others. For instance, having a bad day and reflecting on what went wrong can give clients an insight into what they need to improve. They become more involved in their recovery process, making it personal and self-driven. Having control over one’s recovery journey is crucial in maintaining long-term abstinence following treatment. Progress tracking is also a practice that can be used outside of treatment, which helps clients maintain this control.
Progress tracking also helps clients understand that non-linear recovery is normal. It normalizes having good and bad days. As clients approach the end of their treatment journey, they can see firsthand that bad days become less frequent and use this to fuel a sense of hope. This way of maintaining hope is goal-driven. Clients see their path and their journey and can correlate this to success and moving forward in their lives without addiction.
How Does First Steps Recovery Support Progress Tracking?
Before beginning the tracking process, clients and their teams work together to create achievable and measurable goals. In the recovery process, clients often lose a sense of self and a sense of hope. Having these finite goals, however, keeps clients grounded in themselves and progressing forward with these goals in mind. To not lose sight of these goals, clients use this tracking process. A trackable goal gives clients’ brains the opportunity to see progress and use it as motivation to continue.
At First Steps Recovery, progress tracking is done in a calendar system. Clients are encouraged to track daily and reflect upon their days. They track both good and bad days to see visual progress. At the facility, progress tracking is done in a calm and serene environment, one that does not overstimulate clients and allows them to deeply connect with themselves and reflect on their progress. Although sobriety is the overarching long-term goal in recovery, clients are also encouraged to pursue more personal goals that may revolve around mood or habits.
First Steps Recovery believes in promoting the mental and physical well-being of all clients. In recovery, the treatment process is not meant to only treat symptoms of addiction. Rather, the staff works to help clients uncover the underlying causes of their addictions. With progress tracking, clients can help heal their mental well-being by working toward a measurable goal and removing their dependency on substances. Clients are encouraged with the support of progress tracking to heal on all levels.
At First Steps Recovery, we encourage clients to track their progress. Progress tracking is a self-directed practice that has clients track on a calendar their good and bad days in recovery. This practice helps clients see firsthand their progress in the recovery journey. They can then use this upward progress as motivation to continue. Often clients lose hope or a sense of self in recovery, and progress tracking helps prevent this. This practice also helps clients reflect on their days in order to connect more deeply with themselves and feel more control over their recovery journey. Progress tracking encourages clients to heal all aspects of themselves. To learn more about progress tracking at First Steps Recovery, please call (844) 489-0836.
