Blog

Cravings are a part of the recovery process and not anything to feel guilty about. You are not failing, just because you feel an urge to use again, whether you’ve been sober for an hour, a year, or a decade. Part of sustaining long-term recovery is learning how to manage...

As anyone who is in recovery from a substance use disorder can tell you, the risk of relapse is real and ongoing. That’s because a substance use disorder is a brain disease that can be managed—but not cured. As a result, the possibility of relapse is ever-present. That might seem...

Every person is a unique individual, and every person in recovery is different from the next. One person’s minor annoyance could be another person’s serious relapse trigger. It’s important to think about the things that support your recovery and the things that make it more challenging, so that you can...

It would be wonderful if completing treatment meant you would never experience another craving for drugs or alcohol. Unfortunately, addiction is a chronic disease, so you probably will have cravings for months or even years after you complete treatment. For this reason, it is important to have a plan for...

Pain and addiction are problems that can fuel each other. If you are concerned that someone in your life who struggles with chronic pain could be headed toward addiction or that their recovery could be endangered by chronic pain, it is important to learn more about the connection between these...

Stress is an unfortunate part of life for everyone. For people in recovery, however, managing it effectively can be the difference between staying sober and having a relapse. Because relapses can be very dangerous, at Safe Harbor Recovery Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, we like to reduce the likelihood of our...

Your spouse is relying too much on pain pills, using more than prescribed, and going to different doctors to get multiple prescriptions. Your adult daughter has lost her job and is now drinking more than she ever did. Your best friend has been to drug and alcohol addiction treatment once...

Often, when people think about behavioral health, they focus on the tragedies associated with addiction and mental illness. It is important that we always remember that recovery is possible. Since 1989, September has been designated as National Recovery Month, a time to raise awareness about innovations in treatment, address stigma,...

A quick way for a person in recovery to assess how well they are managing their self-care is the HALT test. If you’re hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, you’ve got an unmet need. At Safe Harbor Recovery Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, we support people in recovery, and we know how...

People who have turned to substances to cope have often done so as a result of going through something that exceeded their ability to manage. Navigating something truly traumatic can leave us feeling broken, lost, and desperate for anything that will ease our suffering. Alcohol and drugs may be the...