See how simple pet therapy can increase the chances of a successful addiction recovery.

From easing distress in the early stages of alcohol or drug rehab through animal assisted therapy programs, to being a solid support for those who have entered addiction recovery, animals have a lot to offer those struggling from addiction. Through all stages of treatment and recovery, pet therapy is becoming more and more common and for good reason.

Benefits of owning a Pet in Addiction Recovery

After attending an addiction treatment center and achieving sobriety, addiction recovery requires long-term maintenance and relapse prevention strategies. You will need as much support as possible, and pets offer benefits unique to the human-animal relationship.

1. Pets provide unconditional love.
   Pets love unconditionally and are always there for you, ready to receive your care and attention. Pets never criticize or judge you and this unconditional acceptance can help those in addiction recovery rebuild their self-esteem. It does not matter what mistakes you make during the day, they will be there to happily greet you when you get home. Pets provide a level of social support that makes you feel needed, wanted, and loved. Humans can also provide unconditional love, but sometimes judgements slip, and often in families struggling with addiction, this unconditional love spills over into enabling behavior which is not helpful for anyone. Pets cannot enable your addiction, but can love you in spite of it.

   2. Pets help you learn about yourself.
   Animals, especially dogs and horses, exhibit total emotional honesty. They cannot hide their feelings and will show signs of fear, anger, happiness and relaxation. People can learn and benefit from experiencing this emotional honesty. After years of numbing emotions through drug and alcohol abuse, recognizing and expressing emotions is a skill that has to be relearned. Animals can also reflect the emotions shown by the person handling them. If you are fearful and anxious around a horse, the horse will also act fearful and anxious. This mirroring can help people recognize their emotional state and learn to relax.

   3. Pets help you build relationships with other people. Entering addiction recovery almost always means letting go of old relationships and building new ones. People can easily form bonds with pets, often more easily than starting new relationships with people. Pets are great listeners. You can talk to them about anything, and even practice difficult or nerve-racking conversations with them. Having a pet can get you out of the house to meet other pet owners at the dog park or pet store, and can give you a topic for starting a conversation with someone new. While pets are great companions, in addiction recovery forming and nurturing healthy and supportive relationships with other people is imperative. Pets can help you break the ice in your quest for new sober friendships.

   4. Dog owners exercise more.
   Research shows dog owners exercise more often, and exercise is an important aspect of addiction recovery. Your dog can be great motivation to get out for a walk and reap all the physical and mental health benefits of daily exercise. Even if you are not going for a run with your dog every day, pets often get you outside in the fresh air and sunlight for at least a few minutes, and this alone can help improve your mood.

   5. Pets help reduce stress.
   Finding healthy ways to manage stress is an important aspect of preventing relapse, as stress is a major relapse trigger. Playing with and petting your fury friend can help lower oxytocin levels in the brain, which in turn helps you feel more relaxed and less stressed. The rhythmic stroking of an animal is calming, and pet therapy has also been shown to help keep blood pressure levels lower.

   6. Pets make you smile and ward off loneliness. Animals are always doing cute things that will make you smile and encourage you to become more playful. Just the act of smiling improves mood and boosts the production of feel-good hormones such as serotonin and dopamine. Their playful presence can also help you overcome loneliness — which is important if you want to stay sober in the long run.

   7. Pets encourage responsibility. Pets are an added financial and emotional responsibility, which is something you should seriously consider before adopting one and bringing it home. When you are ready however, having a pet can help you re-establish your feelings of self-worth and competence. Caring for another living thing will help you see outside yourself and your own needs. A pet’s livelihood depends on you and your good choices. Their reliance on you can help build feelings of trustworthiness as you become a responsible pet owner. With that being said not everyone in addiction recovery will be ready or able to take on the responsibility of owning a pet. This does not mean you cannot experience the benefit that animals can bring to your life. There are many ways to get some pet therapy without having to bring one home.

Other Ways to Experience the Benefits of Animals in your Addiction Recovery

By simply spending time with animals you can get some of the same benefits of pet ownership. One of the best ways to do this is volunteer at a local animal shelter.

By volunteering, you not only get to reap the benefits of experiencing animals’ playfulness and unconditional acceptance, but you can also feel good about supporting an organization in your community. You will meet new people and also learn how to manage the responsibility of being a volunteer — others will be relying on you to show up when you say you are going to. Helping others is great for your recovery and will give you a sense of purpose. Volunteering at an animal shelter can also be a great way to transition to pet ownership when you are ready.

Engaging with friends’ pets, or even seeking out specialized animal assisted therapy, such as equestrian therapy where you work with horses and their owners, are other ways you can bring animals and their love and healing into your life and addiction recovery.

Playing in the dirt doesn’t have to be just for kids. There are numerous health benefits to gardening and the addiction recovery environment has picked up on it. While therapeutic gardening is not a comprehensive addiction treatment program, certain places are offering it as a supplement. Recovery from addiction needs to be filled with fun and productive pursuits to help avoid a relapse. Learning to garden could be that venture while providing sound psychological and physical benefits throughout a person’s recovery journey.

Healing Gardens

Across the country, healing gardens are being used in addiction treatment programs, nursing homes and mental health programs. These aren’t just nice gardens to walk through with a bench to sit and enjoy the professionally landscaped design. These gardens are raised and tended to by the patients of the programs. They become a place for people to actively participate in a recovery program. Patients become more self-aware while gardening and are also able to see tangible effects of their hard work and choices. Food gardens can be cultivated and harvested for some of the food in residential programs. And counseling sessions may be held in the garden.

Therapeutic Gardening and Dual Diagnosis

A large percentage of addicts also suffer from an underlying mental disorder. When the two disorders co-exist, treatment options need to include both. Therapeutic gardening has proven to provide a bridge for treatment that encompasses not only psychological benefits, but also social, physical, spiritual, and emotional healing. The impact on a recovering addict’s life has been so beneficial that more and more treatment programs are beginning to offer this basic natural therapy. Here are some proven benefits that make having a therapeutic garden worth the minimal resources needed to start one. –

• Anxiety relief
• Social interaction
• Anger relief
• Effective at relieving PTSD symptoms
• Low impact exercise
• Growth in confidence
• Mental clarity
• New purpose

Continuing Care

It is easy to continue gardening after treatment. Even in urban areas, planter boxes and unique gardening beds with greenhouses make continuing the hobby a natural progression of extended aftercare. Gardening has been known to relieve so much stress that it becomes a healthy coping technique for long term recovery. It can become a new passion in a recovering addict’s life that increases self-worth as they watch good things grow as a result of their work. Recovery demands a new lifestyle. That new lifestyle will reshape a person’s life. How will you reshape yours?

Introduction

Substance use disorder recovery is a journey that requires a holistic approach to healing. It’s not just about quitting drugs or alcohol; it’s also about addressing the underlying emotional, psychological, and spiritual issues that led to substance abuse. The sweat lodge is one ancient practice that has recently gained popularity as a complementary therapy for substance use disorder.

The Sweat Lodge

A sweat lodge is a ceremonial structure used by indigenous cultures worldwide for thousands of years. It is typically made of natural materials such as stones, wood, and animal hides. The inside of the lodge is heated by rocks that have been heated in a fire outside. Participants sit in a circle inside the club and are led through a series of prayers, songs, and meditations. The heat and darkness of the sweat lodge can be intense, but many people find it to be a profoundly transformative experience.

Benefits of the Sweat Lodge for Substance Use Disorder Recovery

The sweat lodge can be a powerful tool for people in substance use disorder recovery. Here are some of the benefits:

1. Physical Cleansing
   Sweating is a natural way for the body to release toxins. The heat of the sweat lodge can help stimulate the lymphatic system, which removes waste and toxins from the body. This physical cleansing can benefit people in early recovery, as their bodies may still be recovering from the effects of substance abuse.
2. Emotional and Spiritual Healing
   The sweat lodge can also be a powerful emotional and spiritual healing tool. The intense heat and darkness can create a safe space for people to explore their innermost thoughts and feelings. The prayers, songs, and meditations used in the sweat lodge can help people connect with their spirituality and find a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives.
3. Community and Connection
   The sweat lodge is often used as a communal experience, with people coming together to support each other through the ceremony. This sense of community and connection can be crucial for recovering people who may feel isolated and alone in their struggles. The sweat lodge can provide a sense of belonging and a reminder that they are not alone in their journey.

Conclusion

The sweat lodge is just one tool in the toolkit for substance use disorder recovery, but it can be a powerful one. It offers physical, emotional, and spiritual healing and a sense of community and connection. If you are in recovery, consider exploring using a sweat lodge as part of your holistic healing journey.

Imagine that you have an ice cube on a plate in front of you. The room is freezing. So cold that you can see your breath. It is currently twenty degrees Fahrenheit. Slowly the temperature begins to rise.

Twenty‑one degrees.

Twenty‑three.

Twenty‑five.

The ice cube is still sitting on the plate in front of you, and nothing seems to happen.

Twenty‑eight degrees.

Thirty.

Thirty‑two.

Still, nothing noticeable is happening to the ice.

Then, thirty‑three degrees.

Suddenly the ice begins to melt.

A one‑degree shift, seemingly no different from the temperature increases before it, has unlocked a considerable change.

The same pattern can be applied to our own goals in life. Breakthrough moments do not happen overnight. Instead, they are often the result of many previous actions, each building up the potential required to unleash a significant change.

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Building Habits That Last

Let’s say you have decided to start jogging to lose 20 pounds. You have been jogging for a month, and although you lost 5 pounds in your first week, since then, the scale hasn’t budged. You hit a plateau. You could view this stall in progress as a major setback, get discouraged, and decide to quit jogging altogether. On the other hand, you could remain committed to your goal, jogging a little farther each day until you see some movement on the scale again.

Setbacks often derail our goals, mainly because we tend to view progress as linear, not as a journey of many ups and downs. When our efforts do not yield noticeable results, they can feel ineffective, causing us to throw in the towel and give up on our goals. However, the hallmark of any compounding process is that effecting change always takes time. Our hard work is not wasted when we don’t see results – it is just stored, ready to unlock a significant change at any moment.

When You Have Goals, Concentrate on Systems Instead

So, what determines whether we stick with a habit long enough to survive a setback? How do we set ourselves up to persevere, even in the face of disappointment? Research suggests that the best way to achieve what we want in life – whether it is losing weight or overcoming drug and alcohol addiction – is to set specific, actionable goals. For years, we adhered to this approach, setting goals for the grades we wanted to make in school, the profits we wanted to make in business, and the amount of weight we hoped to lift at the gym. Eventually, we learned that the results had little to do with the goals we set and nearly everything to do with the habits – or systems – we implemented to get us there.

The Difference Between Goals and Systems

Goals are specific, measurable results we strive to achieve. They are the desired

outcomes. Systems are the specific habits, routines and processes that lead us to those results. If you are a student, your goal might be to ace an exam. In that case, your system would be how often you study. It is unlikely you would achieve your goal of a perfect score without even glancing at your study materials. So, does this mean that goals are ultimately useless? Of course, not! Think of a goal as a compass – it is good at providing direction and orientation. If you want better results, check your orientation by reviewing your goals, but concentrate on systems to get you to your destination.

The Limitations of Goal-Setting

New goals do not always deliver new results – new lifestyles do. And, a lifestyle is not an outcome; it is a process made up of tiny incremental habit changes over time. For this reason, your energy should go into building better habits, not achieving better results. It is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress. Bad habits tend to repeat themselves, not because you don’t want to improve your life, but because you have the wrong system in place. You are simply running the wrong program for change.

The Power of Systems in Addiction Recovery

When recovering from drug or alcohol addiction, it is tempting to focus entirely on the desired outcome: achieving lifelong sobriety. Rather than concentrating on that result, it is more effective – and far less overwhelming – to cultivate new, positive habits daily. These habits gradually propel us toward a new, healthier life one day at a time. By making these tiny adjustments to different areas of our lives – such as exercising 30 minutes a day, attending daily recovery support groups, and meditating for 10 minutes every morning – we allow ourselves to build momentum and stay motivated throughout the process. Over time, our efforts are compounded, culminating in sustainable change. Like the ice cube that finally melted after many, incremental degree shifts, our daily habits eventually add up to a healthier, more fulfilling lifestyle.

How to Get Help for Drug and Alcohol Addiction in Austin, TX

Ranch House Recovery is a Recovery Center in Austin, TX that provides innovative treatment solutions for men struggling with addiction. If you or your loved one is in need of a drug or alcohol recovery center near you, we are here to help. Our program aims to provide holistic healing and ongoing community support for men hoping to transform their lives and find freedom from drug and alcohol addiction. To find out more about how Ranch House Recovery can help you or your loved one discover lasting recovery, please call us at (512) 661-2049. Our dedicated and compassionate admissions team is available 24/7 to assist you.