Mindful Healing: Navigating Sobriety with Therapy

When you are newly sober, may it be for the first, second, or even third time, it can be overwhelming. You are told to do so much in such a short period of time. For example, find an NA/AA group to join, make a doctors and/or psychiatrist appointment, deal with daily triggers to use, and on top of all that, FIND A THERAPIST!

I usually tell my clients to take it slow, not be so hard on themselves, and to put their sobriety first. What do I mean by this? Well, yes all those tasks I previously mentioned are important and need to be completed. But if you are overwhelmed with stress and all these tasks, it could compromise your sobriety. You could be triggered to self-medicate (i.e., use drugs/alcohol), your stress. So take it slow.

When you do get into therapy make sure that your therapist has experience in substance and alcohol abuse AND trauma. These two things go hand in hand, and having a therapist that fully understands the complexities of both is crucial. Your therapist will need to help pace you as you try to work on the root reason to why you began to use and become addicted, while at the same time processing your trauma.

This task can be very daunting and exhausting, so you will need an experienced therapist to help navigate. The therapist is essential in bringing to the client's attention their attempts to try to do everything perfect to the point of sobriety burn out. This is the opposite of what we want to happen.

I personally think that humor is essential in therapy. There will be feelings of anger, resentment, frustration, and many times going through the process of realizing the damage that the childhood abuse did to you. Such intense emotions need to be released throughout the session, and having a humorous therapist can help.

Most importantly, mindfulness and staying in the moment will help you not get overwhelmed with stress. For example, if you notice that you are irritable, physically and mentally exhausted, or you have bouts of sadness throughout the day, your sobriety could be at risk due to taking on too much. Don't ignore it! Talk to your therapist so she can give you some insight into what's going on, and hopefully help you to make some adjustments in your daily life routine and activities.

If you are utilizing therapy as one of the tools to stay sober, rest assured you are in the right place. Just keep in mind that it takes a village, meaning try to explore many modalities of support to find a good recipe. Because one shoe does not fit all so do what works for you! Take care of your sobriety first and the rest will fall in place. Happy healing!