Addiction Treatment Options for Jacksonville Residents

Jacksonville, the seat of Duval County, Florida, is a hot destination for golfing enthusiasts and tourists looking for fun on the beach. With its busy seaport lending support to the local economy, Jacksonville has stability, as well. The city’s success story, however, has a dark side. The news outlets often report on instances of drug overdose.

Recent numbers by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission reveal that abuse of the painkiller oxycodone causes approximately 120 overdose deaths in Jacksonville each year. Prescription drug abuse led to about 620 deaths in the town of Jacksonville in the year 2016, a substantial jump up from the 350 or so deaths reported the year before.

Prescription drugs and opioid addiction are often a gateway to dangerous street drugs, as well. According to the National Capital Poison Center, 80 percent of heroin users admit to starting with prescription drugs, and stepping up to hard drugs over time, as prescription drugs become harder to come by. Street drugs such as cocaine and heroin were responsible for more than 265 deaths in Jacksonville in 2016, an increase from the 145 reported the year before.

It’s important to understand that recreational drugs and street drugs come with serious risk of accidental death due to overdose, no matter how you use them — as part of an addictive relationship to them, or for occasional recreation. People don’t plan to overdose. Since it’s often hard to determine how much of a drug is safe to use, people accidentally use too much. If you use drugs, you live with the risk of accidental overdose.

The best way to help the situation is to sign up to rehab. Legacy Healing Center in South Florida has professional addiction specialists who are able to customize scientifically designed rehab programs to help you leave your relationship with drugs behind, and embrace sobriety.

The benefits of 30-, 60-, 90-day rehabs

Legacy Healing Center, located in South Florida offers rehab programs that last 30, 60, and 90 days. These programs are designed for people with different needs and cater to those in Florida and across the nation.

Treatment programs are never one-size-fits-all plans. Typically, it is the severity of a person’s physical and psychological dependence on a given substance that determines how long they need to address their condition at rehab.

Thirty-day rehab works for some people: A month-long rehab program is well suited to individuals who have short, mild addictions. When a patient hasn’t had their health compromised by extreme drug or alcohol use, their internal organs tend to be in good shape. They don’t suffer from internal hemorrhages, weak renal function or liver cirrhosis, and are in good enough health to weather the rigors of intensive detoxification.

Many people who suffer from addiction prefer the 30-day rehab programs over longer durations. It isn’t hard to imagine why – these programs require patients to take less time out of their lives, and are more affordable because they don’t last very long. Patients are able to quickly get back to their lives with a minimum of downtime. It’s up to the addiction treatment professionals at rehab to determine if a 30-day rehab program would work well for you, however.

Sixty-day rehab is a better idea for many: Rehab programs of medium duration are ideally suited to those whose addictions run somewhat deeper. The most effective 60-day rehab plans include a week or two of medical detox, and moderately intensive individual therapy, group therapy, and support group attendance. Such rehab programs give patients more time to acclimatize to life without substance abuse. They can take their time learning the life skills that they need to confront life without having to seek drug use for comfort. Understandably, these programs tend to be more expensive than 30-day programs, because they involve longer residential stays and treatment periods. They are well suited to anyone who needs an extended period of professional help to overcome their addiction.

Ninety-day rehab programs: A three-month rehab program tends to be suitable for those who have struggled with addiction for long periods of time, used multiple drugs, find themselves in poor health, or those who have tried rehab before and relapsed or returned to substance abuse. Considering that people addicted to substance abuse relapse at rates as high as 60 percent, a 90-day program is likely to give most the time that they need to thoroughly learn new coping mechanisms, deal with stress without drug use, and learn important life skills that lend strength.

Ninety-day rehab programs tend to be associated with greater long-term success rates.

What happens after rehab?

Many people misunderstand what rehab is all about. They believe that it is primarily the initial detoxification from drugs that they go through in rehab that frees them from addiction. In fact, however, the truth is that the medical detoxification that initially occurs in rehab is only a minor part of the rehab process, even if it appears to free an addicted person from drug use. The greatest part of addiction is rooted in the mind. Addiction permanently changes the structure of the brain in some ways, and makes drug use appear positive and desirable. Even once your rehab does conclude, you still need to attend therapy and counseling to ensure that you don’t forget how addiction works, and are constantly on the alert to a gentle and imperceptible slide back into substance abuse. It is those who focus earnestly on staying sober long-term who succeed in beating addiction for life.

Sober-friendly attractions near Jacksonville

Once patients complete treatment at Legacy Healing Center and return back to their homes, it is vital they seek sober-friendly activities to engage in and stay active in their recovery. Fortunately, Jacksoville hosts many options for having good, clean fun;you could catch a football game at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, have a quiet picnic on Castaway Island Preserve, or try one of Jacksonville’s famed climate-controlled golfing experiences, where you get to golf, eat and drink in air-conditioned booths. And of course, the beaches and parks are always a great option!

When you get better at Legacy Healing Center, you will learn how to embrace sober life and all the beauty the world has to offer; you will achieve a better life that you ever thought possible.