Brendan’s story tells us what life after relapse is like. In 2017, Brendan entered The Lakehouse Recovery Center. It was his second stay, atypical for the Lakehouse as our objective is for clients to leave our care and never have to return. Usually, we feel that it is unhelpful to readmit a resident, for that individual is not necessarily going to receive new resources, or tools, or experience the second time around. We take the intake process very seriously, but knowing when someone is really ready to change is far from an exact science. There are many factors to weigh and intuition plays its part.

THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF RELAPSE

By his own account, during Brendan’s first stay with us, he had learned everything he would need to know in order for him to maintain his sobriety. And yet after leaving our care and on his own for a while — he grew confident he had conquered his addiction and stopped using those the tools. And he relapsed!

REHAB RE-DUX: THE ALCHEMY OF RECOVERY

The good news is that Brandan, feeling confident he knew why he stumbled, wished to return to a nurturing environment filled with people with whom he had already formed trusting bonds. And so he returned to the Lakehouse Recovery Center and began again. When Brendan readmitted, his steadfast focus was on turning his relapse into the most valuable thing that had ever happened to him. And he did this by digging deeper than he ever had before; Brandon transformed his failure into a positive growth opportunity that would change and ultimately save his life.

THE LENSE OF LIFE

Often people talk about recovery as if it is not connected to other facets of life — “l have to focus on my recovery, I have to focus on finding a job, on family, on relationships, etc. In our experience, this is not true. Of course it does make perfect sense that recovery must come first, but it is far more accurate to say that recovery must become the lenses through which every aspect of life itself is viewed. In other words, one needs to look at work through the lenses of recovery. One needs to look at relationships through the lense of recovery, and so on. To begin to live a happy, purposeful, clean and sober life, recovery has to be everything, and not simply first. By finally accepting this principle, Brendan’s life has changed dramatically — for the better, as he continues to practice looking at everything in his life through the lense of recovery.

Click here now to give them a call at 818-381-0317. It’s free to talk to them. “If I can do it,” adds Brendan, “so can you,  We are all in this together!”