The Power of Peer Connections in Addiction Recovery

12 min read

Empowering the process of healing and bouncing back, with the great assistance of one’s fellows, someone who has had the very same experience.

When it comes to addiction recovery, remembering that peer connections are important, peer recovery services that have started becoming very valued by those that have been in the addiction world themselves are starting to have changed everything in their path to recovery. These special services are now looked at as being somewhat different and are very special because of the way that they are looked at and treated in the addiction recovery world. When it comes down to the way that these types of services are, it is due to the fact that the facility that has been helping people form addiction has done so good that they are now being looked at differently than what it used to be like. The new way of looking at it has changed everything.

The way that peer recovery special services are different from everything else if this special type of recovery is due to the similarities that there is between peers in recovery for the same type of addiction. This is a start for peers to begin being able to help each other and will allow the ability for peered recovery services. In addition to this kind of service also needs to be founded in the necessity to connect to those of who remember things the same way and have one addiction. Being that there are a lot more to this idea and to this type of services, the new focus for this type of pharmaceutical service is the whole, dying of an unique to peer recovery order. Having helpers and peers when it comes to having help for a certain type of addiction, is very important and a very high role adduct. Having help from somebody who has dictated the exact same way you will know that still they are people who support you and therefore this person will be very supportive, and understanding about you. In addition, having help for the exact same someone that off the exact same addiction will have for peer free type a career on and that person to be supportive and very Siri true, to you.

After my own personal experience with addiction and recovery, I decided that I wanted to become a peer recovery specialist and help others who were going through the same thing. From my understanding, a peer recovery specialist is someone who has been in the same shoes as you and can provide you with the guidance, resources, and help you need. When you are talking to a peer recovery specialist, you are talking to someone who understands your problems and has gone through the same experiences as you. I feel like this is extremely important because when you are in an active addiction, it feels as if NO ONE understands you and what you are going through.

At the core of peer recovery services exists a cadre of peer recovery specialists whom have endured the tortuous path of enslavement but bravely conquered and are now transformed to someone of sagacity utilizing their learned experiences to effervesce the recovery communities as they are erected upon the very experiences that the individuals suffering subtend to surface from. These specialists connote a profoundly connective quality that astounds the scrutiny of fellow addicts and individuals in recovery. This connective factor, this human element is what translates spectator to the-base-of-the-partial-mile-peer-to-peer-outsider-power-to-understand-and-relate-to-the-invigorate-whether-triumph, setback, jab, will, it-this-it is no-conversant, through this specialist.

Nothing is as one-dimensional as it seems, and alcoholism is not an exception. People now consider a plethora of factors when deciding when and how to treat an alcoholic, which is hopelessly different than it was in the late 1800’s. It is simply now an outdated concept to try and fix one aspect of an alcoholic, as nothing in life works that way. An alcoholic shouldn’t just be left off the hook for how they act when other people are around, but it also doesn’t make sense to have people turn to AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) to try and get them back on their feet. Just because they got themselves to an AA meeting or they are there by their free will means absolutely nothing. The critics go on to say that maybe once they get out and nobody is with them or maybe when they are still in Alcoholics Anonymous and just come out of nowhere and use. This holism simply is just that nothing is one-dimensional and the alcoholic is not an exception. Everything is decided on a case by case basis by many more different people instead of only one psychiatrist.

Now, we look at everything when treating one alcoholic in addition to their symptoms first instead of only the one factor first and then everything else. Since everything is thrown together now, like I said in my earlier statement, many more people are involved. So now many more people are assigned to different places or buildings having to deal with this life that just got screwed over. Before, a person was to be tried to get better, they had to go get fixed by the one person and that is it. Now, this holistic approach sort of lets the alcoholic get away with so much more than how it would have been in the 1800’s when it was out. I don’t necessarily think that now, the alcoholic can act the same way that they would if someone were with them, but I guess that they just simply get what they want with this new process. Also, just because an alcoholic went to an AA meeting, doesn’t mean that they are doing well with treatment and before you leave AA they can come out of nowhere and use it.

Peer Recovery Specialists provide a holistic model for recovery, which includes the body, mind and spirit. Specialists give individuals the opportunity to talk freely without being judged if they fear that others may ridicule them. Listening to what individuals are saying and sharing personal experience on how to deal with their recovery. Mourning said, “The idea is to help clients figure out what their goals are and use your experience to tell your story.”

To build trust and rapport you have several factors that you have to take into account, what you wear, your body language, all your partnering words. Trust is the foundation, you have to be able to trust the person you’re in a conversation with because if you don’t have trust you might not enjoy yourself and even start questioning everything that the person tells you, maybe even start verbal fights or even maybe you get into a physical fight with the person. Once you are able to trust that person you can start building a rapport with that person.

One of the strengths of peer recovery services is their ability to build rapport and establish a trusting relationship. Many people in recovery have difficulty trusting anyone, especially when they might feel judged or stigmatized, so they do not talk to others about what they are going through. Peer recovery specialists provide a non-judgmental, supportive environment where individuals can openly talk through their problems and know they will not be judged. The foundation of a good therapeutic alliance is trust, which peer recovery specialists must work hard to establish.

Furthermore, peer recovery specialists personify “each one, teach one” by revealing their own stories of recovery, showing others that it is possible, even if they must confront seemingly impossible obstacles. By sharing their own tales of strength and change, recovery coaches render the first step towards recovery much more attainable.

Anyone who has ever accomplished a difficult task must have felt with full power and in control of their life. These are just two of many possible labels we could place on people who feel empowered. This self empowered feeling is one of the strongest of all emotions; it is that of confidence and certainty. Self-empowered people are those who feel self confident and sure of the opportunity and values of achievement. Empowerment is not limited to those who have achieved this feeling in the strictest sense however. It also includes those who feel confident, assured and powered by something outside of themselves. These people may be in a position of power and have the backing of a strong team etc. Self-esteem on the other hand is possibly the eldest and most often researched of all other types of empowerment. Esteem means to belong and speaking metaphorically to stand or be on one's own two feet.

Self-esteem may not be feeling entirely confident but may feel in control of one's life to some extent or believe it is making some difference to some cause, or a self-assumed righteousness. ~ Fostering Empowerment and self efficacy is an artwork that can be termed as an image developed in a person. I can say that a self empowered person does the work in full confidence and without taking pressure. Means he/she is full of confidence regarding the achievement and the values. These people knew completely what they do and what they can achieve in their life. Self empowerment people are not only limited to those types of people that achieve all these things by him, but also it includes all those who felt in confidence, assured by the example of outside or contain desire of outside also.

Peers in Recovery, unlike other social services, focus on the empowerment of individuals and increasing self-efficacy. Recovery peers help individuals set goals they can actually reach. They help them to celebrate each milestone and learn from the falls. Using motivational interviewing, and goal setting, they assist the individual to take control of their own life. This helps build self-confidence and self-esteem.

The recovery process is often solitary, but utilizing peer recovery services as a means of getting sober can cause a person to have a sense of interaction and fellowship. Community and connection have walked hand in hand, by attending peer support groups that are facilitated by recovery specialists, a person meets other people who know the struggle that they experience against the disease of addiction. To no longer feel like you as a person are the only one who is in this war is a beautiful thing; by attending support groups a person builds a network of peers that will lead them, love them, live life with them, and give them guidance for their recovery, they will be sincerely turned on and encouraged to sustain being sober just by the word of encouragement that is uttered out of the mouth of someone in the group.

In the realm of the process of addiction recovery, there is a light in the midst of the darkness, this light is called a peer recovery specialist and the specialty is a bright spot in addiction recovery. By sharing their experiences, showing empathy and empowering others, peer recovery specialists are changing lives in the process of addiction recovery. Strength; hope and purpose are just a few of the attributes they give an individual in the process of addiction recovery, because together we build a recovery of many; not just one.

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