Before entering treatment, many people want to know what an opiate recovery timeline looks like. While there are some ways to pinpoint a timeline, it’s important to remember that your addiction didn’t form overnight. Recovery is the same. It’s an ongoing process that will take time. Still, your first year in recovery at Crestview Recovery will likely follow a common path you can use as a roadmap for what your life may be like after a year of sobriety.
Four Stages of the Opiate Recovery Timeline
The National Institute on Drug Abuse has broken down recovery into four common stages. These stages start from the moment you select a recovery option. They continue through treatment and into the 12 months that follow – months of sobriety!
The four stages of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery are:
- Start of addiction treatment
- Early abstinence
- Maintenance of abstinence
- Advanced recovery
Getting from Recovery Options to “Start of Treatment”
Right now, the biggest hurdle in front of you on your road to recovery is that of making a decision about treatment. In the Pacific Northwest, there are fewer options for rehab than many other areas of this country. If you’re looking for treatment close to home, you have fewer facilities to consider. When you begin weighing recovery options, look for these important aspects:
- Dual diagnosis therapy
- Individual counseling
- Trauma therapy
- Masters level therapists
- Extended care addiction treatment
Programs with these aspects of care will help you more fully understand why you developed an addiction to opiates and how to keep from using in the future. Once you narrow your recovery options, you need to push yourself to call the center that you think will be the most beneficial for you. This can be a hard step, but getting through it will make you feel even more prepared for a better future.
Start of Treatment to Advanced Recovery
It often takes a long time for someone using opiates to decide to start treatment. But once you begin a treatment program, you almost immediately go to the next stage of recovery, early abstinence. Early abstinence takes you from the first moments of detox through your first 90 days of recovery. This is the time when you’ll learn the most about your own addiction and how to keep from relapsing.
Maintenance of abstinence is the next stage of your recovery. This starts in your fourth month, usually after you leave your 90-day rehab program. This is the time when you’ll need to use the skills you learned in rehab and 12 step recovery to keep yourself free from addiction.
Recovery is a life change. You have to commit to this change in order to succeed in advanced recovery. Advanced recovery is the period when you’re more comfortable in your sobriety, a time of healthier living. Your recovery needs to become “second nature” in this stage. You’ll know what you need to remain sober and begin to understand your sobriety better. At this point, it’s up to you to remain committed to your better way of life and the skills you learned in rehab.
Attaining Sobriety at Crestview Recovery
Crestview Recovery helps patients achieve recovery and work through early abstinence to lifelong sobriety. At Crestview Recovery in Portland, Oregon, you can learn about your opiate addiction and gain the life skills you need for the duration of your opiate recovery timeline.
It’s up to you to take the first step out of addiction and into early recovery. Once you make the call to Crestview Recovery, masters-level therapists and other caring staff will guide and support you each step of the way. Make this call to Crestview Recovery now at 866.262.0531 to take your first steps forward.
