In addiction or mental health rehab, it’s common for patients to struggle with feeling comfortable during treatment, especially during peer support and group therapy. Patients may feel social anxiety, apprehension or fear of judgment by their peers. However, peer support and group therapy are important and can help patients stay in long-term recovery.
Understanding The Role of Peer Support
Peer support can mean a couple of different things. Peer support groups are groups of people who have overcome or are working through substance use and/or mental health disorders that meet to help each other through sharing experiences and support. There are also Certified Peer Specialists who are individuals who help others start or stay on their path to recovery. These Peer Support workers are effective because they understand what patients are going through and can provide insight from their own experiences with addiction or mental health recovery. This helps patients build strong relationships with their peer support, which can help them feel comfortable and not judged for their struggles.
Peer support workers engage in a wide range of activities to help individuals stay on track toward long-term recovery and reduce the likelihood of relapse. These activities include but are not limited to:
- Advocating for people in recovery
- Sharing resources and building skills
- Building community and relationships
- Leading recovery groups
- Mentoring and setting goals
Core Values of Peer Support
In peer support, individuals share their lived experiences with substance use and mental health disorders, creating connections and support for patients on their recovery journey. Patients should not fear judgment in this setting because they’re among peers who have been through similar struggles and experiences.
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Peer support also involves several core values, which include:
- Respect: Peer support involves respect on all levels, there is no hierarchy.
- Relationships and mutuality: In peer support all relationships are equal; everyone’s voice and story have the same value.
- Healing environment: In peer support, dialogue and conversation flow throughout and everyone’s experience is shared, allowing for a healing environment.
- Empowerment and self-determination: In peer support, patients are empowered to make the right choices for their recovery journey and decide what recovery means to them.
- Transformation through crisis: Peer support is intended to prevent crisis and the need for more intensive treatment.
These values come together to make peer support a safe place for patients to seek guidance and support in recovery.
How Peer Support Makes a Difference
Peer support does not replace the roles of therapists, nurses or other medical professionals on a treatment team but they do make a significant difference in the lives of patients seeking long-term recovery.
Peer support offers many benefits to patients working toward addiction or mental health recovery including but not limited to:
- Guidance for patients
- Motivator and role model for recovery
- Living testament to recovery
- Empowering conversations that encourage recovery
- Social support
Other ways peer support can make a meaningful impact on a patient’s life include:
- Increase self-esteem and confidence
- Increase sense of control and ability to bring about changes in their lives
- Increase sense that treatment is responsive and inclusive of needs
- Increase sense of hope and inspiration
- Increase empathy and acceptance
- Increase engagement in self-care and wellness
- Decrease substance use and depression
Overcoming Fear of Judgment in Peer Support and Group Therapy
It’s not unusual for patients struggling with addiction or poor mental health to fear judgment in treatment programs. But it’s important to remember that peer support is a safe place for individuals to open up and share their feelings and experiences.
Some ways patients can overcome their fear of judgment in peer support and group therapy include:
- Focus on your recovery: Instead of fearing what others may think of you in rehab, focus on your goals toward recovery.
- Avoid your triggers: Stay away from certain people, places or things that tempt you and trigger your fear of judgement. This will help you stay on path toward long-term recovery.
- Forgive yourself: Reflect on what you’ve done during the recovery process and be kind to yourself. It’s important to acknowledge the past but to forgive yourself and move forward so that you can focus on long-term recovery.
- Establish healthy coping skills: Building new coping skills can help you overcome fear of judgment. Work on developing new coping skills to replace old ones, like mindfulness, journaling or exercising.
Engaging in Peer Support and Group Therapy
Once you understand the purpose, values and benefits of peer support, you can focus on engaging with the peer support available to you in recovery. Doing this can help you build a strong support system.
It’s common to feel alone and isolated in recovery because you may think that your substance use or mental health struggles aren’t understood. If you’re unsure where to look to build your support system, try connecting with your peers in recovery. Talking with people who are going through similar hardships and experiences with their mental health can help you bond, keep each other accountable and feel understood.
At The Recovery Village, we offer group therapy, which can help individuals build the support system they need. In group therapy, individuals:
- Get to know other group members
- Begin to understand yourself and what others are going through
- Build self-awareness
- Develop social skills
- Foster personal growth
- Support other members
When patients participate in group therapy sessions, either in inpatient or outpatient addiction or mental health treatment programs, they engage with their peers who have or are currently experiencing similar challenges. This engagement can lead to patients forming supportive relationships that can also help them foster hope in the recovery process.
After your addiction or mental health rehab stay, continuing to attend support group meetings provides you with helpful insights and encouragement based on others’ experiences and accomplishments.
Starting Your Recovery Journey at The Recovery Village
At The Recovery Village, we create personalized treatment plans for our patients so that they receive the care best suited for them. Our facilities provide evidence-based treatment, counseling for co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders, healing amenities and a variety of individual and group therapy options.
Both of our inpatient and outpatient addiction rehab services offer similar therapies to treat alcohol and drug addiction, like individual and group therapies. Inpatient treatment is meant for those who need a higher level of care as patients live at the facility full-time and receive 24-hour medical supervision. Outpatient treatment is meant for individuals who don’t need intensive care and patients attend scheduled appointments with medical professionals to assess their physical health during recovery. Patients also have a combination of individual and group therapy sessions that they attend either onsite at the location or in online teletherapy sessions.
At The Recovery Village, we also offer inpatient and outpatient mental health rehab with experienced, licensed therapists at the top of their fields. Our clinicians specialize in a variety of mental health conditions, including but not limited to depression, anxiety and PTSD.
Both inpatient and outpatient mental health rehab services offer similar therapies to treat mental health disorders, like CBT, DBT, motivational interviewing, individual and group therapy. However, inpatient mental health rehab takes place in a residential setting where the patient lives at the facility full-time for several weeks. In outpatient rehab, patients attend scheduled appointments with their therapist weekly, either onsite at the location or in online teletherapy sessions.
