Addiction negatively affects the quality of life of every addict and it is hard for both teenagers and adults to set foot on the path of recovery once the addiction to drugs and alcohol is ingrained in the daily routine. Almost 40-60% of individuals addicted to drugs or alcohol relapse back once they have finished the course of their treatment. This happens either because they quit too early or the program was not long-term. Life skills training includes strategies that not only help in reducing the addiction relapse but also improves the overall personality of an addict.
Hence, this article will discuss the basic requirements and necessity of life skills training for overcoming addiction.
Table of Contents
Why Life Skills Training?
As mentioned in the American Journal of Epidemiology, 275 individuals who consume drugs and alcohol die in the next 20 years. Addiction impacts several other aspects of life like:
- Employment or internship
- Personal relationships
- Mental and physical health
- Healthy living patterns
- Healthy coping mechanisms
- School grades and social behavior
- Concentration and attention
- Comprehensive overall behavior
In a study, life skills training intervention sessions were organized for 7th-grade children to help them avoid the wrong use of prescription drugs such as opioid. The results reported that life skills training could encourage children to avoid the consumption of opioid and drugs throughout teen years.
When this program collaborated with family programs involving older teens of 10-14 years, the protection offered by LST enhanced. At the end of the study, it was concluded that life skills training programs could not only prevent misuse of prescription opioid but also reduce the cost of prevention of addiction to such drugs.
How Life Skills Training Can Help?
Teenagers and young adults face peer pressure and compulsion to consume and experience drugs and alcohol on a regular basis. In an attempt to do so, they stop enjoying activities they used to enjoy participating in. This decreases the overall mental, as well as physical health and adversely, affects the related families. Therefore, life skills training with involvement of parents appears to be a vital route to helps addicts denounce drugs.
Here are some of the life skills that can help in recovering from addiction.
Routine
A set routine helps in recovering from addiction and settle in ones’ personal life. Many experts believe that having a routine in life is the key to addiction recovery. When students and teenagers have a planned structure for the day, it is easier for them to follow the schedule. When this schedule is absent, recovery sessions can be missed without conscious knowledge.
Routine activities as small as timely meals and bedtime increases mental strength and physical health of the body. Teaching students to sort out important daily activities before planning a routine is a great way to deal with addiction. Keep everything on the table and find a relevant time and structure for every activity such as studying, eating, reading, extracurricular activities, etc.
Basic Responsibility
The most common reason for teenagers getting addicted to drugs is the lack of basic responsibility. They don’t feel responsible for anything, which encourages them to use drugs every day. Eventually, these teens lose confidence and their ability to take responsibility for activities around them and use the drug as an excuse to avoid more responsibilities in the future.
Life skills training is necessary here for recovery as it will help teenagers to assume personal responsibility such as:
- Cleaning their room
- Organizing locker at school
- Buying groceries
- And completing assignments
It is important to note that helping teenagers take personal and social responsibility is only achieved when parents and teachers collectively work together.
Stability
Teenagers are far more susceptible to use the drug because they don’t understand finances. They have access to money without hard work which leads to addiction rather easily. If teenagers are taught about finance management at school, it can help them go through the recovery period without quitting.
Here’s what teachers can encourage students to do:
- Learning to manage finances
- Applying for internship for practical finance management
- Taking responsibility for spent money
- Keeping a track of expenses and savings
Hygiene
Addiction hinders with various body processes, which in turn adversely affects the physical health of the addict. This means that during recovery, proper administration of nutrient and hygiene is essential. A healthy diet followed by a hygienic routine help the body to rebuild physical and mental strength.
Management
It is not hard to establish that addicts have management issues. It is difficult for them to manage medication, recovery sessions, maintain a routine and most of all manage the addiction to drugs. All these responsibilities and activities can easily make the teenager overwhelmed and the best solution for that is self-management. Involvement from parents and support from peers and teachers can encourage the teenager to manage medication, recovery sessions, studies, and all the other responsibilities.
Conclusion
Life skills training can stimulate addiction recovery and further encourage the teenager to avoid deviating from the recovery path. However, it is necessary for teachers and parents to understand that it is usually harder for teenagers to go through the recovery phase. They may end up feeling lonely giving rise to mental health issues. In such scenarios, timely intervention or help from a professional psychotherapist or counselor can lead to effective recovery. Life skills training paired with other essential steps can improve recovery chances and reduce relapse probability.