After Care – A Personal Experience

On leaving treatment I was told Oasis offered a free, weekly, voluntary After Care therapy group. I was willing to try anything to help me with my sobriety, so I gave it a go.

 

New Boy

I went to After Care for the first time about five days after I left treatment at Oasis. By now I had met most of the group around town, and at local 12 Step fellowship meetings. Everyone was friendly and seemed to be well-balanced. Still, it was all new to and I was fearful and I felt like a new boy when I first went.

 

I didn't say much in the first few groups as I mainly watched and listened to see what happened. I soon realised that although the other members of the group had more sobriety than me they still had problems in their lives, cravings for alcohol and drugs, and needed a place to share these things. People in the group related to each other's situation and helped each other.

 

Balance

It soon dawned on me that After Care was a major factor as to why people seemed well-balanced when I met them. Members of the After Care group were dealing with their problems, and having done so, their week went better. The problems were more about life than just about staying sober which also began to make sense. This was no longer group therapy in Oasis. This was about how to handle life.

 

In this period I got back to work, went on a couple of dates, and moaned and groused like many people in early recovery; all the normal things I used to do, but now I was doing them without the crutch of alcohol. Going to work and not having a beer as a reward afterwards and going on a date without being able to calm my nerves with a drink were very difficult things to do in the early days and the After Care group always helped me.

 

As I progressed in the group new people joined and gradually I started helping others. By helping others I became more confident in my own sobriety.

 

Update

So many things have contributed to my ongoing sobriety, it's sometimes hard to quantify which have had the most impact. However, about six moths ago I went to a party and ran into some old friends I hadn't seen for a while. Immediately, we were at ease with each other, honest, and challenged each other on what we were up to. At some point in the evening we all realised we had been in After Care together some years ago. So it did work.

Kyle, 43