12 months of free structured aftercare, with the option to continue free of charge beyond your first year.
Leaving rehab is a big adjustment, even when you’re looking forward to going home.
During treatment, you’ve had a daily routine, people around you who understand addiction and somewhere to talk about what’s happening. Once you’re home, you’re making those decisions for yourself again.
There might be relationships to rebuild, work to return to or situations you haven’t had to deal with while you’ve been in treatment. You might also find that some of the people and places you associate with drinking or drug use are still part of your everyday life.
At Abbington House, we provide structured aftercare to help you manage these changes and stay connected to people who understand recovery.
Every client who pays for residential treatment receives 12 months of free aftercare. If you’d like to continue attending after your first year, your support can be extended free of charge.
Our aftercare includes regular online recovery groups, a weekly hybrid meeting and opportunities to stay involved with the Abbington House community.
We offer several opportunities throughout the week for clients to stay involved in recovery support.
The Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday meetings provide opportunities for ongoing recovery support. Thursday’s group is specifically for family members and loved ones.
Before you leave Abbington House, our team will explain the aftercare arrangements and provide the timetable and joining instructions.
There’s a difference between talking about how you’ll manage life after rehab and actually being back home, dealing with everything that comes with it.
You might have discussed boundaries during treatment, for example, but find it much harder to maintain them when you’re back around the same people. Or you might have felt confident about returning to work, only to realise how much of your old routine was connected to drinking or using drugs.
Aftercare gives you somewhere to bring those experiences and talk about what you’re finding difficult.
Our groups focus on recovery, relapse prevention and the everyday challenges of maintaining the changes you’ve made during treatment.
Discussions may include:
The discussions are shaped by the people attending and the issues they bring to the group.
Sometimes you’ll have something specific you want to talk about. Other times, hearing how someone else has handled a similar situation can be useful.
Residential treatment gives you time to focus on your recovery, away from many of the situations and responsibilities you normally deal with.
When you return home, those responsibilities are still there.
You might be going back to a relationship that needs work, dealing with financial problems or trying to establish a routine without alcohol or drugs. Even positive changes, such as returning to work or spending more time with family, can take some getting used to.
It’s also possible to have a difficult week without anyone around you realising how much you’re struggling.
Regular aftercare gives you a place to talk about these experiences with people who understand what recovery involves.
It can help you:
Aftercare doesn’t remove every difficulty you’ll encounter after treatment. It provides continued support as you work through them.
Every Tuesday at 7pm, we hold our Friends of Abbington recovery meeting.
This is a hybrid meeting, which means you can attend online or in person.
The group provides another opportunity to stay involved in recovery-focused discussions and maintain connections with people in the Abbington House community.
For someone who’s recently left treatment, seeing familiar faces can make the transition home feel less abrupt. You can hear how others are managing their recovery, share your own experiences and continue being part of a community you’ve already started building relationships with.
The meeting also provides an opportunity for people at different stages of recovery to support one another.
You might be attending shortly after leaving treatment or returning after a longer period away. The group gives you a regular place to reconnect and take part in recovery discussions.
Aftercare is introduced during your residential stay, so you’ll know what support is available before you leave.
As part of your discharge planning, we’ll provide information about the groups, when they take place and how to join.
You can then attend the sessions that are relevant to you and fit around your circumstances.
There’s no formal attendance-monitoring requirement. We encourage you to use the support available in a way that helps you maintain your recovery.
Your access to structured aftercare doesn’t necessarily end when you’ve completed your first year.
If you’d like to continue attending, Abbington House can extend your aftercare free of charge.
We recognise that people need different levels of support at different stages of recovery.
You might attend regularly during your first few months at home and find that you need less frequent contact as you become more settled. Later, a change in your circumstances might make you want to reconnect with the group.
Some people continue attending because they value the relationships they’ve developed. Others find it helpful to return when they’re dealing with something new.
Whatever stage you’re at, you can speak to our team about continuing your aftercare beyond the initial 12 months.
The end of residential treatment brings a lot of changes. You’ll be putting what you’ve learned into practice while returning to the responsibilities, relationships and routines of everyday life.
Some parts may go as expected. Others might be more difficult than you anticipated.
Our aftercare gives you regular opportunities to talk about those experiences, stay involved with recovery support and maintain the connections you’ve made during treatment.
If you’re considering residential treatment at Abbington House, our admissions team can explain what aftercare includes and how support continues after your stay.
If you’re a former resident, you can get in touch to find out about attending or extending your aftercare.
Contact Abbington House to ask about aftercare, ongoing recovery support or residential treatment.
