How to Hold Down a Job While in Recovery Alcohol and drug addictions cost the U.S. economy over $520 billion a year. And since over 10 million people with addictions also have full-time jobs, a considerable amount of that cost comes in the form of diminished work productivity. If you suspect you have a substance use disorder, the decision to seek treatment can be delayed by fear for your job or professional standing. Can you spare time off for recovery? If your supervisors or coworkers learn of your problem, will you be branded a “junkie” and see your advancement come to a standstill—or even be dismissed from your job? Remember, if you put off treatment, your work functioning will suffer and you’ll probably end up losing your job anyway. …show more content…
And don’t try to beat addiction on your own: you could develop life-threatening withdrawal symptoms. Professional treatment is the only safe option. And you won’t have to choose between recovery and your job. Your Job Is Protected The Americans with Disabilities Act recognizes substance use disorder as a disability—meaning that employers are required to provide medical leave for treatment, and cannot dismiss an employee on the basis of the disorder.
And since the law applies only to substance use disorder itself and not to related behavior (e.g., you can still be fired for having illegal drugs in your system), your position will actually be safer if you get treatment. Explaining why you need medical leave may still be difficult, so go in prepared with details on how recovery will improve your work performance, and with an idea of your professional goals afterward. If your attitude is one of cooperation and wanting to benefit the whole company, you should be able to get your supervisor on your side. You Can Return to Work Soon While initial detox requires inpatient treatment that can last several weeks, the next stage, outpatient treatment, allows you to resume everyday life at least part-time. Just as your employers are legally required to recognize the inpatient period as medical leave and to hold your job for you, they must also make “reasonable accommodations”—including a schedule that allows time for therapy and support-group meetings—for you to continue working …show more content…
afterwards. Many treatment providers have appointment slots outside of “standard” work hours—check with them first, then meet with your supervisor to figure out a work schedule of maximum mutual convenience. But don’t worry if you still have to adjust your office hours—common as flextime and telecommuting are in the twenty-first century, your coworkers probably won’t be too curious about the “why.” Remember Your Work–Life Balance Especially if perfectionism and drivenness were factors in your developing an addiction, you may have issues with feeling your work is “driving” you to relapse.
Be ready to probe and manage these issues, over the long term, with the aid of a qualified therapist. And include in your sobriety plan firm boundaries denoting what you will say “no” to at work, and when you will arrive and leave each day. A few more hints on how not to work yourself to the point where relapse looks attractive: • Practice delegation and teamwork on a regular basis. As in recovery itself, you need human support to be effective. • If you catch yourself thinking “I have to” or “should do this,” stop, take an objective look at the situation, and consider whether you really HAVE to do it. If you do, remember you don’t also have to dwell on negative thoughts about it. • Think of your coworkers as people with individual needs and feelings, not as entities with the power to control your success or self-worth. • No matter how exhausting your work day was, never be “too tired” to attend a support meeting. • Always have a purpose and goals to work toward—that alone does miracles in minimizing unhealthy
stress. If you or someone you know is struggling with substance use disorder, we can help. Call 1-800-RECOVERY today to learn more and get started.
hat relapse does not become an option. I have always believed that with knowledge come choices and this motto is especially helpful in situations where choices seem limited like they do during PAWS. Treatment centers should implement mandatory education about PAWS which includes teaching about the reasons and the symptoms of PAWS, the length of time a person can expect to be at risk of experiencing PAWS, the high risk of relapse potential that exists during PAWS, and how to recognize, manage, and control the symptoms of PAWS as soon as they appear so that relapse does not occur and continued recovery prevails. Works Cited Gorski, T. T., & Miller, M. (1986).
Together with your recovery community, you can work on changing unhealthy behaviors and patterns. It can also be more fun and motivating to do yoga, try a new diet plan, do volunteer work, train for a marathon, join an art class, or learn how to cook nutritious menus when you do it in a group.
Relapse prevention planning – Relapse prevention training may take the form of classes, individual counseling sessions, or support groups. Participants learn vital coping strategies for dealing with the situations or emotions that can precipitate a relapse.
People need to think intelligently and set goals that are specific to their needs, making it possible to achieve their goals by making sure they are measurable and realistic and making it possible to build a support system around them; furthermore, they also need to set a deadline with time frames that can be met. Chanika Charles stated that “young people are at risk of being gobbled up by despair, overcome by conditions beyond their control” (A17). To avoid this, people need to start motivating themselves and getting excited about what they want to achieve, making sure their goals are relevant to their needs and being more perseverance when situations become difficult. When setting up their goals, they must ask that magic question: is this relevant to my lifestyle, furthermore, what will I do to achieve it?
come with a goal in life - to succeed on it. With that kind of mentality I
The consequences that follow the use of any drug are unfavorable. Although many individuals may see drug addiction as a mere lifestyle choice, it is a problem that many individuals suffer from and inevitably a growing issue that leaves major social and economic impacts.
Nobody denies that every client and situation is unique, but there is a general layout out of a treatment plan that can be used thought out the facility to ensure success for the client. The first step in the treatment plan is to screen clients to determine if he/she meets the criteria of the facilities drug, or alcohol program. The facility will use the standard CAGE, of the Substance Abuse Subtitle Screening Inventory questioner as a screening tool. These two screening tools are consist of few questions and require only short answers to determine (American Society of Addiction Medicine, 2012). These tools are easy to use and can be done by any qualified staff according to the ASAM. If more through information is needed then the client will go under an assessment.
For the 9 years that I have worked as a mental health support worker I have come across cases involving drug addiction and mental health. My passion to work with and help those in need of services grew over the years as I came to realize that with the right services and support, one can eventually become clean of drugs and reintegrate into society and live a normal life. I have been privileged to work with genuinely enthusiastic and caring colleagues who have enhanced my professional identity which makes me so proud to be part of a wider health care industry. I’m fortunate to have tremendous amount of sincere affection for service users and staff and this had made me resilient in adversity, and have a passion to want to do the right
For almost two years I have been fighting illness. my senior year I found out I have Crohn's disease, a lethal, incurable condition that causes inflammation of the digestive tract. This disease has kept me hospitalized on and off since August last year. At one point the doctors were deliberating different ways of treatment, including surgery and heavy doses of medication, due to me showing no signs of improvement under my current course of treatment. During testing to see if I could try a type of medication that would interrupt the nerve signals from my stomach so I would no longer suffer from extreme pain the doctors found a new issue. This medication tends to make any pre-existing heart conditions worse so we just wanted to cover our bases
First and foremost, alcoholism is hard to break due to the brain craving created by a drinking habit. According to Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, habit is created when there are a cue, a routine, and a reward that develop a craving that make people repeat the loop(49). The craving for drinking is generally cultivated by the short-term reward resulted from drinking. Most alcoholics believe that drinking can help them to escape from their hard times and forget their problems. Elizabeth
Addiction comes in many forms: you might be addicted to something as simple as having a cup of coffee every morning or eating up whatever drama creeps on to your Facebook page. We are all addicted to something, though the intensity of our addictions vary. The previous examples seemed relatively harmless, but imagine this scenario: what if your morning coffee was replaced with a few bottles of beer at the local bar every night? It may start off as just a harmless way of relaxing after a long day at work, but soon your nightly trips to the bar begin to interfere with your personal life: you miss your son’s game-winning goal in a soccer game that he had been talking about for weeks, you spend your anniversary black-out drunk, and you become more hostile and bitter towards your family. Soon, you are left alone, with the only solace you still have is end of the bottle, and soon your life is spiraling out of control, and your only purpose in life is finding a way to inebriate yourself again.
This has been a very important lesson for me and my views on addiction because I was “raised” in a facility that promoted twelve step groups and implanted in me that their way was the only way, that the disease concept was real and that medically assisted treatment was the devil. I have watched countless people die because this belief was instilled on them as well, today I work in a medically assisted treatment facility, and as I said before no way if the right way, it’s the path of the
maintain good health physically, spiritually and psychologically. It is a science, such that one has to
Perhaps most substance abuse starts in the teen years when young people are susceptible to pressure from their peers. One of the main concerns when dealing with substance abuse is the long term problems with substance such as addiction, dependency and tolerance. The physical state of an individual, who is addicted to a substance, will deteriorate over a long period of time. This is due to the chemicals that are being put into an individual body. One of the most important aspects of the effect of substance abuse on society includes ill health, disease, sickness, and in many cases death. The impact of substance abuse not only affects individuals who abuse substances but it affects our economy. Our government resources are negatively impacted by individual who abuse substances. According to (Lagliaro 2004) the implication of drug users extend far beyond the user, often damaging their relationships with their family, community, and health workers, volunteer and wider
Other people can’t find jobs because of disabilities or health problems. If someone gets into a car accident and gets physically injured long-term or becomes disabled, it becomes difficult to do many types of jobs. In another case a person may become ill and not be able to work for a long period of time or at all.