Sponsor Content

Working Through Addiction Treatment: How the Working Population Receives Care

three business people

Photo Credit: Getty Images

Stories of celebrities, artists and visionary CEOs retreating into rehab and sobering up before staging a comeback are commonplace in the culture. But that story doesn’t capture what the typical rehab and recovery experience is like. The majority of people with substance abuse disorders are working adults, often young, who may not have the time or resources to commit to weeks without working. Instead, throughout the U.S., there are many people quietly receiving addiction treatment while maintaining a full- or part-time job. Thanks to innovative treatment options, people struggling with substance abuse are now building their addiction treatment to fit their lives, rather than putting their lives on hold.

In many of the industries where drug abuse is most common, such as the service industry, an extended leave might not be feasible, and working unusual hours may be required. As a result, workers have started fitting in treatment when they can find the time after work. To fit their needs, addiction rehab centers in cities like Philadelphia have started offering the intensive care of traditional rehabilitation, broken up in short bursts of a few hours per day or night through outpatient treatment programs. Through drug and alcohol counseling, the programs focus on teaching the necessary coping skills to prevent substance abuse while also helping resolve the underlying psychological and situational factors that drive the behavior, through practices like family therapy. In doing so, the programs create internally the kind of round-the-clock prevention strategy that staying in a treatment center would provide externally and prepare patients for a lifetime without addiction.

Even when patients decide to move to a different space away from the temptations of drugs and alcohol, increasingly, addiction treatment centers are helping patients maintain their career and the healthy aspects of their lifestyles. Patients may be permitted to work remotely in their rooms or within provided office spaces. Some clinics now feature work release programs, where the patient may leave for work and return within a specific timeframe. At Footprints to Recovery, a drug rehab center in Philadelphia, sober living options are offered, in which patients stay in a group home where drugs and alcohol are banned, but they may attend work as needed, and when receiving treatment, vocation services are provided to improve job performance and employability. Patients are even encouraged to keep up every day, healthy habits like yoga and artistic practice in provided studios, in part to displace the bad habits that formerly led to substance abuse. Altogether, instead of putting the brakes on life, the new style of addiction treatment focuses on providing a new generation of hard-working people struggling with substances with an improved lifestyle that fits their needs. Just like in their career, the young and employed are finding ways to make their recovery work.

Ready to learn more about options for overcoming addiction? Footprints to Recovery can help.