Banyan Palm Springs SMART Recovery Program
The SMART Recovery Program is an abstinence-oriented recovery program that offers support and recovery resources to individuals who have chosen to abstain from drugs and alcohol or any other types of addictive behavior. The purpose of a SMART Recovery Program for addiction is to help people in addiction recovery change self-defeating thinking, emotions, and actions. This helps them work towards long-term goals and improve their overall quality of life. All of our California drug treatment programs at Banyan Treatment Centers Palm Springs are focused on helping our patients complete their addiction treatment programs and better themselves to live sober and happy lives.
What Is the SMART Recovery Program?
The SMART Recovery Program is a type of addiction recovery program that offers patients peer support both online and in person. SMART stands for Self-Management and Recovery Training, which takes a logical, scientific, non-confrontational, and motivational approach to sustain sobriety. Patients who participate in SMART Recovery will learn relapse prevention skills in a highly supportive environment and utilize study methods for addiction recovery that stem from evidence-based research.
The SMART Recovery Program is a global community of mutual support groups where participants work together to overcome addiction and sustain sobriety. This program is centered on incorporating peer support and allows people from all over the globe to connect via only resources. SMART Recovery is a newer approach to the AA’s 12 Step Method. Although the two seem similar, the major difference between SMART Recovery and the 12 Step Program is that SMART Recovery is based on scientific evidence while the 12 Step Program is based on spirituality.
The SMART 4 Points
The SMART approach to addiction treatment follows four points. This program embraces that each patient is different, and their experiences with substance abuse differ. Recovery is unique to the individual. A program that may be helpful for one patient may not help another. We understand the need for individualized treatment at Banyan Palm Springs, which is why we incorporate the use of drug therapy programs like SMART Recovery with our substance-specific treatment programs.
The SMART Recovery 4 point program consists of:
- Building Motivation
- Coping with Cravings and Urges to Use
- Problem Solving
- Lifestyle Balance
Motivation plays a significant role in our behaviors. Most people share primary goals like survival, avoidance of pain, and happiness. According to this, it’s safe to assume that addictive behaviors serve the purpose of fulfilling these goals. Building motivation is one of this program’s focus points because patients must learn to shift their motivation to a desire to recover from addiction. Coping with cravings and urges can make this difficult. Because addiction is a disease, these cravings don’t automatically go away, and other things can also trigger them. We also offer support and resources to simply encourage patients to resist these urges to use and teach them applicable relapse prevention skills.
Problem-solving is also essential to recovering from anything, especially addiction. Oftentimes, individuals with substance use disorders turned to their substance of choice to self cope or for temporary relief. After years of drug use, it can be challenging to break out of this habit and find new ways to solve problems, which is why we help clients do so. Finally, the fourth point we focus on in our SMART Recovery meetings is lifestyle balance. While all of these resources are useful, it’s also important to instruct patients on how to apply these new lessons to their lives.
