Since everyone has a unique history and different experiences with addiction, recovery is a personal journey. A variety of factors may have led to one’s addiction, and the recovery journey is an opportunity to explore these factors and oneself on a deeper level. This greater sense of self-understanding is key to a successful recovery. The reason self-awareness is so important is that after treatment, clients must transition back into their normal routines. When they do this, they need to have confidence, relevant knowledge, and a plan for continuing healthy lifestyle habits. To support this self-direction and self-understanding, clients can engage in holistic services while in treatment. As clients gain self-knowledge and discover self-care methods, they can incorporate those learnings into their lives outside of treatment.
At First Steps Recovery, clients have access to a number of holistic services that are paired with their clinical treatments and therapies.
What Are the Holistic Services Offered at First Steps Recovery?
The holistic services offered at First Steps Recovery include:
- Trips and outings
- Equine therapy
- Wilderness therapy
- Recreation
- Physical therapy and wellness
- Yoga therapy
- Mindfulness
- Art therapy
- Music therapy
By trying a wide variety of holistic services, such as nature-based, health-based, and creativity-based, clients can discover which types of services benefit them most.
Nature-Based Holistic Services
In more nature-oriented holistic services, clients learn how to engage with the natural world and their group. This type of activity promotes self-growth and self-discovery. With a group in wilderness therapy, for instance, clients can build on their communication and social skills while engaging with nature. They learn to problem-solve, cooperate with others, and develop comfort in an uncomfortable environment.
Wellness-Based Services
With more wellness-based holistic services, clients learn how to care for their physical well-being. The health and wellness (or physical therapy) program, for instance, incorporates nutrition, exercise, mental health, and supplementation into the recovery process. There is an educational aspect to this program that encourages clients to take charge of a healthy lifestyle.
Creative-Based Holistic Services
With creative-based holistic services, clients learn new and healthy ways to express themselves. For instance, in art therapy, clients use their creativity and imagination to create art that represents their feelings and thoughts. There is freedom in self-expression. Often clients have difficulties with verbal expression, which is why having a non-verbal outlet can be beneficial for their journey. Through this outlet, clients can explore and understand themselves on a deeper level.
How Do These Holistic Services Help With Self-Discovery?
Self-discovery is promoted through holistic services as clients have to sit with themselves, their thoughts, and their emotions. Then, they are called upon to act in a self-directed way. For example, in nature, clients may be in a new, uncomfortable environment. They have to sit with their thoughts and feelings to fully understand why they feel uncomfortable. Perhaps they have to learn how to advocate for themselves in that environment. Therefore, clients learn more deeply about what makes them uncomfortable in a new environment and how to work through those difficult feelings.
Clients struggling with physical wellness in their recovery journey may find their emotional and mental health improves when taking part in wellness-based holistic services. An example may be learning more about nutrition and incorporating a healthy diet or exercise habits into one’s life. This education may allow the client to understand what their body needs during the recovery process.
Clients learn what modes of expression make them feel the most relieved of their overwhelming feelings, thoughts, and emotions. Not only are they able to understand themselves on a deeper, emotional level but they begin to learn what modes of expression work best for them at the moment.
How Can You Know Which Services Fit Best for Your Recovery Journey?
Figuring out which holistic services fit best in one’s recovery journey can be challenging. This is especially true when faced with many options to explore. The truth is that recovery is a personal journey. Figuring out what fits best for clients’ journeys is part of the self-directed recovery lifestyle. Recovery is supposed to be an empowering and knowledgeable journey based on clients’ strengths. If a holistic service is not the best fit for a person’s recovery journey, it will be evident. For example, it may seem pointless or simply take them too far out of their comfort zone.
Trying out different holistic services more than once is an important piece of recovery as clients can see their progress. However, it is key to narrow down which options make a person feel most empowered during the recovery journey. Holistic healing should strengthen and improve a sense of self, self-esteem, and self-confidence. As the elements of one’s unique journey come into focus, this brings a sense of direction and hope.
Here at First Steps Recovery, clients are invited to try holistic services ranging from nature-based therapies, physical wellness-based therapies, and creative-based therapies. Holistic healing is meant to strengthen the understanding of oneself on emotional, mental, and physical levels. Since some therapies may be too overwhelming or uncomfortable at first, clients are offered an array of options to find which services are the best fit for them. Clients should feel empowered, self-directed, and more knowledgeable about themselves from their time with holistic therapies. These therapies are designed to be empowering and promote long-lasting sobriety. To learn more about holistic healing and the best treatment and therapy paths, please call us at First Steps Recovery at (844) 489-0836.
