Program Enhancements

We believe recovery can actually be fun, relieve stress, and help restore mental and physical well being. Residents find that our program enhancements can be of great assistance throughout the stages of recovery. Finding enjoyable things to do can play a vital role in regaining personal balance. Strategies for dealing with the hungry, angry, lonely and tired triggers of relapse are part of our program.

People sometimes wonder about the value of seemingly unrelated program enhancements such as Reiki, Acupuncture, Gardening, Music, Art, Coloring, Exercise, Cooking etc. But a major contributor to relapse is stress, poor stress management techniques and boredom. Since many in recovery, especially those with a long history of substance abuse, have used alcohol and drugs as a stress management technique for years, they need to learn appropriate and healthy strategies of stress and lifestyle management.

A number of the enhancements we make available require a discipline of the mind and body, and offer residents recovering a greater insight of self awareness, and induce a more peaceful state of mind that endures far beyond the physical act. Through mental self reflection and stress reduction techniques, recovering alcoholics and drug addicts gain a better perspective over the life stressors that might otherwise contribute to relapse.

Part of the vision behind Webster Place is how the setting and enhancements assistance with recovery. We provide a safe, serene and natural environment where you can refresh the soul and are provided the opportunity to pursue whatever form of spirituality moves you.

Exploring all areas of ourselves is beneficial:

Physical -- Exercise can fight depression and help stimulate endorphins and dopamine production, replacing the high from chemicals. But the physical category can also be important outside of addiction. For example, the number one killer of recovering alcoholics is actually lung cancer -- a strong incentive to consider quitting smoking in recovery.

Emotional -- Learning to identify our feelings and communicate them honestly with others is critical to long term success. Doing so prevents the emotional blow-ups that might lead to relapse. Most recovering addicts grossly underestimate the importance of this, under the false idea that they can handle their emotions.

Mental -- Recovery is a learning process. We build layers of interconnected knowledge about how we can stay clean and sober, but also in how to live effectively in other areas (such as career, family life, etc.).

Spiritual -- The inner strength that fuels our success. Connection to a higher power. Shift in personality from self-centered and self-seeking behavior to helpfulness and usefulness. A large percentage of those who relapse probably do so due to neglect in this area.

Social -- Regular interaction with others on the same path. Identification with other addicts and alcoholics. Important for staying "plugged in" to the recovery mindset. Believe it or not, we can actually forget that we are addicts or alcoholics. Social interaction strengthens our identification with recovery.

Addiction affects the whole person, including each of these areas mentioned. So it naturally follows that any recovery program that helps you seek to re-create a new life will need to would offer opportunities to address each of these areas.

Optional Holistic Recovery Opportunities

Acupuncture: WPRC offers an optional one on one enhancement with a per session fee. Heidi, is a professional acupuncturist and is tuned into the needs of those in recovery. She also offers a stretching group and a stress relief acupuncture group. Developed in China over 2,500 years ago, acupuncture is part of a system of medicine that seeks to establish the free and balanced flow of energy (or chi) by the insertion of needles on specific points along the energy pathways of the body. It is based on the idea that blocked chi is the cause of disharmony in the body/mind, and therefore disease. Acupuncture is currently used in many drug treatment facilities or can be part of a self-help program for recovery.

Animals: Animals are available on this farm and often help those in recovery with stress reduction. Plus they are just fun to be around. There are often dogs, cats, chickens, chicks etc. roaming the grounds. People often find physiological and psychological benefits during interactions with animals. These include lowered blood pressure and heart rate, increased beta-endorphin levels, decreased stress levels, reduced feelings of anger, hostility, tension and anxiety, improved social functioning, and increased feelings of empowerment, trust, patience and self-esteem. Animal interactions can be looked upon as both a learning and healing experience.

Reiki: WPRC offers an optional one on one enhancement with a per session fee. Spiritual Bob is a Reiki Master and is tuned into the needs of those in recovery. In exploring addictive patterns during Reiki sessions, people are encouraged to accept their feelings, and to be curious about how the emotion feels in their body and are encouraged to allow the emotion to surface and be expressed. To express the emotion the person might feel the urge to cry, or make noises such as sighing or screaming. A system like Reiki views all emotion as just energy, so rather than suppressing the expression of this emotion, a Reiki session helps to release the emotion and the resistance to the emotion. No emotion is viewed as negative and no judgment is attached to any emotion. The Reiki energy makes the process of releasing emotions smoother.

Creative Arts: Include Dance, Art, Drama, Music, Writing and Poetry.

The creative arts can be very helpful in the process of recovery from addiction. They can provide time to get in touch with the inner self and with the higher power and can provide a form of expression for feelings that cannot be easily identified or put into words. Through helping the addict connect with his/her more authentic self, expression can help raise self-esteem and provide an opportunity to create new experiences beyond habitual and painful emotional patterns. The creative arts foster a renewed ability to relax without drugs or alcohol. We have a music enhancement and available guitars, drums and some other instruments. If you play an instrument check into whether you might bring it. Call Tom. Supplies for some of the art enhancements can be purchased out of your incidentals account set up at admissions.

Sweat Lodge: The Spiritual Leader at WPRC is Bob. The sweat lodge helps remove toxins from the body. Many use the sweat lodge as a native culture approach for Native Americans recovering from alcoholism and addiction. Some individuals in recovery programs that use culture methods such as sweating have slightly more confidence of staying sober than those who don't use cultural treatment. In a study of cultural treatment, participants reported that their cultural treatments were both enjoyable and self-empowering in addition to their usual routine of talk, writing, and education.

Meditation and Yoga: Meditation can be a powerful tool in relapse prevention (and during detox), and can become a "positive addiction" that provides a healthy alternative to addictive behaviors. Often, for people suffering with drug addiction, meditation is the last thing they want to sit and do. As soon as they experience any feelings of restlessness, anxiety or depression, they usually desire to turn to their drug of choice and alter their state. This is why starting off with meditation for those who've never practiced before may be useful.

In guided meditation, you are taken on a healing journey of relaxation. No sitting in silence with your own insistent thoughts. Just peaceful visualization exercises that will help you get started and enjoy your blossoming practice. You'll learn to alter your state in a new way without drugs and in return get in touch with your inner self. This may be offered depending on staff availability. At a minimum, once per day, at 9 pm is “chapel” – a time to quiet down, and reflect on the day with all those residents who also chose to attend (most of the residents usually attend.) Its also a great way to keep connected with how your peers are doing and how the community is doing as a result of the day. This usually helps settle us down before calling it a day and retiring for sleep later. Meditation and positive affirmations can be an important part of giving up drugs and improving confidence and reprogramming thought patterns. Drug addiction meditation techniques are delivered with deliberation, focusing on accessing the subconscious mind to input new values, a sense of worthiness and most important a love of self.

Yoga is most successful when combined with other methods. Go to your local library and rent Yoga workout videos to start. Once you try it, you'll become hooked, in a good way and soon you'll want to go out and buy one of those cute yoga mats and then a yoga block. This may be offered depending on staff availability.

Maple Sugaring: Webster Place has 25 sugar maples around the property. You can learn how to drill and tap a maple tree. Then, as recycled wood burns, will be able to see up close the workings of a sugarhouse where you can experience the sweet smell of warm maple waffling through the air as you learn the ABC's of making syrup. This is a seasonal activity that produces some really tasty syrup for breakfast.