When clients enter our doors, they are usually at their lowest point. Addiction takes a heavy toll on every aspect of people’s lives, and sometimes seeking professional help is a last resort. Our Fort Behavioral Health team is always available to provide hope to those battling an addiction to drugs and alcohol.
As our clients work through their treatment plans, our staff have the privilege of watching the progress that they make. Then, it all culminates at the moment when our clients complete their treatment programs. Because we are personally invested in the success of our clients, we consider it a personal victory to see our clients embrace a lifestyle free from drugs and alcohol.
If you have completed a treatment program with us at Fort Behavioral Health, we proudly invite you to join our Alumni Program. Because of COVID-19, we have been postponing our Alumni Program meetings. However, we are happy to announce that the Alumni Program meetings will resume in February 2021, and we will continue to meet on the third Thursday of every month.
Purposes of Our Alumni Program
Our Alumni Program started in the middle of last year and serves several purposes.
Among the reasons we started our Alumni Program are:
- The Alumni Program is a fantastic way to stay connected with other program graduates. These people can also become part of your support system, which can be a valuable resource if you are faltering in your sobriety.
- The Fort Behavioral Health team also wants the Alumni Program to be a method to reach out to our program graduates to see how they are advancing in their recovery process.
- Our team also wants the Alumni Program to be a way for our program graduates to communicate with us if they need additional resources or information to maintain their recovery.
The most important point for you and other program graduates to remember is that just because you have left the Fort Behavioral Health residential treatment program in Fort Worth, Texas, does not mean you are not still part of our family. Our team wants you to feel that you can reach out to us for information or encouragement, even long after you have exited our doors.
Monthly Alumni Meetings
So, what happens during our monthly meetings? It’s a time for current clients to meet with people who have completed their treatment plans. Our current clients may need insight or support that can only come from people who have been through the program themselves. You and your fellow program graduates also act as an example of how working the program can truly change your life for the better. Further, these meetings allow current clients to connect for sponsorships with new clients. In addition, these meetings show current residents that they have a place to come for motivation to continue their recovery process long after they have finished their time at Fort Behavioral Health.
Benefits of Continued Peer Support for Sobriety
Ongoing support is essential to your recovery, and there are many aftercare, group therapy, and alumni programs offered to help keep you on track with your sobriety. Some benefits of peer support through alumni groups include:
- Peer support helps you stay sober by instilling a sense of accountability. When you are held accountable for your actions by a group of supportive individuals who know and understand exactly what you are going through, it’s much easier to maintain sobriety. When you always have someone to talk to when you need it who knows how to distract you from your triggers, you will better avoid relapse.
- An alumni program can help connect you with a mentor. Mentors are invaluable people in your recovery; you can learn so much from those who experienced these things before you and made it through to the side of recovery, now actively choosing their sobriety every day and helping others do the same. The tools and coping mechanisms they can teach you will benefit your life greatly.
- You can meet new friends in alumni programs with whom you can build upon your sober lives together. The friends you make in peer support will likely be life-long; there with you through good and bad times, celebrating your successes responsibly, and helping you through anything that may come up and threaten your sobriety.
- A peer support program gives you somewhere to go when you’re having trouble maintaining sobriety. Instead of going to the bar when you feel down or calling up an old drug connection when something stresses you out, go to group. Be around people who understand and don’t want to see you relapse; let them take your mind off of it until the urge to drink or use passes.
- Peer support gives you a sense of belonging. Often, an underlying root cause of addiction is never having felt understood or accepted. An alumni group will put you in direct contact with people who now understand they are valuable and worthwhile human beings, helping you to accept that within yourself as well. When you feel understood and accepted, it will be easier for you to cope, to change the things you want to change, and to step into the life you want to be living. Peer support will help you understand that you are deserving of recovery, as well as compassion and belonging.
Are You a Fort Behavioral Health Alum? Contact our Team Today
If you have successfully completed a treatment program at Fort Behavioral Health, our team would love to reconnect with you and have you join us at our monthly meetings. You can help us show current clients hope for a substance-free life and act as part of a support system for clients that may be struggling in their recovery.
Reach out to our Fort Behavioral Health team today by calling 844.332.1807 or completing our convenient and confidential online form. Don’t hesitate to help us guide clients through the recovery process by being part of our Alumni Program.