Community Integration: Social Reintegration Programs in Massachusetts

Top 10 Offerings Of Sustained Recovery Management Through Social Reintegration

Ailments aside, but the actual addiction isn’t the only worst thing about the addiction. It is the cycle of events that sends a patient down the rabbit hole leading to the symptoms worsening each time. And do you know what triggers this chain of self-mutilation? It is actually social isolation… Which is why, we’ll be discussing this phenomenon ahead and explain how a mental health treatment center in Massachusetts is relevant.

What Is Worse Than Using?

During a person’s life, there are many occasions for them to be exposed to drugs and alcohol. Moderation, or medicinal usage, is one thing but, the truth is, it’s difficult to control the impulses.

And the next thing you know, ties with close family members and non-using friends are gradually severed. 

The effects begin to show in school and professional performance; in the worst case, the school or profession can come to a premature end…

The normal process of socialization is jeopardized, and the person is slowly (but surely) excluded from society…

While the person is withdrawing from the society, the society itself is also discriminating against them. It is sad but it is true, unfortunately; the access to education, employment, and social support becomes close to nothing!

Now, guess what the person would be turning towards to drown their sorrows and find solace in an attempt to catch a slight flicker of happiness in their difficult, lonesome life conditions?

That’s right, they’ll most-definitely seek using; drug use then only intensifies their already difficult conditions. 

The hole becomes deeper and deeper and the cycle worsens every single time. 

It’s important to break this cycle – with social reintegration – to make sure a person doesn’t feel excluded and doesn’t look towards using to get a short-lived falsified “high”.

What Is Social Reintegration?

Drug use is linked to social isolation; social isolation fuels drug usage; do you see how both of these conditions are linked together?

So, in order to break this vicious cycle, and to protect drug users or recovering users, it is crucial that we provide them ample opportunities and tools to become a part of society. 

Therefore, community reintegration is the process of helping individuals who have experienced significant life disruptions, perhaps due to mental illness, substance abuse, or incarceration, to re-establish roles within their communities.

And not just any roles, but roles with meaningful connections. So, it is more than just returning to a physical location; it’s about rediscovering purpose, rebuilding bridges, and reclaiming one’s sense of belonging!

Who Needs Community Reintegration?

Since exclusion from society exacerbates drug usage, the aim of social reintegration is, therefore, to prevent and reverse social exclusion for current and former drug users. 

The purpose is to facilitate the recovery process and help sustain the positive outcomes achieved during the treatment. Findings from DrugPolicyFacts.org state that about 25 million adults in the United States are in remission; that’s about 10.3% of the total population!

So, keeping that statistic in mind, here are a few categories of individuals that can benefit from social reintegration:

Individuals With Mental Illness

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), one in five adults in the U.S. face some form of mental illness each year. For example, Schizophrenia affects approximately 24 million people, or 1 in 300 people, worldwide. Consequently, these individuals struggle with reintegration upon returning home from treatment facilities. 

People Recovering From Substance Abuse

Almost 21 million Americans have at least one addiction; and as mentioned earlier, substance abuse and social exclusion are linked together. Therefore, successful reintegration is crucial for further usage as well as long-term recovery. 

Formerly Incarcerated Individuals

We all make mistakes, some are more intense than others but formerly incarcerated individuals have already suffered the consequences of their mistakes. However, they might need some help in integrating back into society after going through the tough experiences of incarcerated times.

Survivors Of Trauma and PTSD

Whether it’s domestic violence, natural disasters, or other traumatic events such as combat for veterans, individuals often require support to rebuild their lives and build meaningful connections within the community. 

Mental Health Rehab Massachusetts

Top 10 Offerings Of Community Integration Programs

Although 25 million people in the U.S. are reported to be in remission, 50% of them manage to sustain their remission. That is, it can take as long as 8-9 years, after seeking the first formal help, to consider a person as in sustained recovery. 

If that seems like such a long time, remember, 50% of people are able to achieve that! 

Here’s how Community Integration programs in a Massachusetts Mental Health Treatment Center help with that:

  • They utilize a strength-based approach – by utilizing the resources already available in the client’s life.
  • Capitalizes on a multi-faceted approach – integrates drug dependence rehabilitation with social reintegration support to help progress a person’s human, social, and vocational skills.
  • Continual assessment – proposes a sense of accountability by involving families, friends, and the community in the continual assessment process.
  • Early and assertive engagement – involves service professionals early and in a non-passive manner to help the client. 
  • Recovery plans – implements a recovery plan most suitable to the client as well as their family members. 
  • Assertive management – challenges such as co-occurring disorders require a vigorous approach for the best recovery results.
  • Peer-based recovery models – since reintegration into society is the aim, the recovery model engages peer-based models of recovery support. 
  • Reallocates the center of service activity – from the institutional environment to the client’s natural environment in the community to improve feasibility for the client and their families.
  • Educational and vocational opportunities – these programs collaborate with educational institutions and employers to help clients with opportunities for skill development, job training, and continued education.
  • Sustained monitoring – puts emphasis on sustained monitoring to help client stick to their recovery regime for a long-term rehabilitation.

 

Recapping Why Community Integration Is Important

The biggest benefit of community integration is it prevents lapses and relapses and reduces recidivism rates. Researches show that comprehensive reintegration programs for formerly incarcerated individuals decrease recidivism rates by up to 40%!

For example, this statistic posted on HardvardPolitics specifically states that prisoners who participate in educational programs have a 43% lower chance of being reincarcerated than those who do not.

Furthermore, studies show successful reintegration leads to increased employment rates and higher earnings for individuals with mental illness. 

Since most community integration programs collaborate with educational institutions and employers, better opportunities are to be expected for clients who go through these programs with a reputable mental health treatment center in Massachusetts.

At Resilience Behavioral Health

At Resilience Behavioral Health, Massachusetts’ Mental Health Treatment Center, you get social integration as an integral part of the rehabilitation process. You can enroll in this program whether you need an inpatient, intensive outpatient, or partial hospitalization program; it is personalized for your requirements.

You can expect to learn skills, and tools, along with the confidence to excel at the challenges of everyday life!

Daily interactions at the center, recreational activities, hikes, scheduled outings, etc., are some of the activities you can expect at Resilience Behavioral Health’s social reintegration program.

This comes with an exit plan where you can plan every detail such as how and where you will live, after the treatment is over, what you will do, and how you will manage your challenges. 

Don’t worry, we won’t leave you alone after the treatment is over, you can expect Aftercare to keep you motivated, excelling, and achieving a truly sustained recovery!

Click here to get your tailored consultation at Massachusetts’ mental health treatment center or call 888.401.1179 to learn more.