Achieving Ninety Days of Sobriety Is First Step Toward a Drug Free Future

By Hugh C. McBride

Ninety days. When contrasted with the scope of a lifetime, 90 days doesn't sound like a lot.

According to statistics provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average American can expect to live for more than 77 years, which translates to more than 28,000 days. Thus, over the course of the average lifetime, 90 days is a veritable blink of the eye.

Viewed from this perspective, 90 days doesn't amount to much – except, of course, in those life-changing instances when it does.

90 Days to a Healthier Future

At Passages to Recovery, one of the nation's premier residential addiction recovery programs for young men, 90 days amounts to a lot. The men who choose to recover at Passages to Recovery discover that with the right blend of support, guidance, and supervision, 90 days can mean the difference between merely surviving and actually living. It can be the bridge from the despair of addiction to the hope of lifelong sobriety.

For clients at Passages to Recovery, 90 days is the time it takes to take one of the most important steps they will ever take – their first meaningful step toward a drug-free future.

In other words, at Passages to Recovery, 90 days can make all the difference in the world.

Three Components of Recovery

According to Lucy Taylor, the clinical director at Passages to Recovery, giving clients the opportunity to achieve 90 days of sobriety is one of three crucial components of an effective drug rehab program.

"People who are in recovery need three things," Ms. Taylor said. "They need novel experiences, they need 90 days of sobriety in primary treatment, and they need to develop supportive relationships. We give clients all three of these elements at Passages to Recovery, and then we help them transition into the next phase of their life."

A Novel Experience

At Passages to Recovery, the novel experience comes in the form of a 40-day wilderness program that clients complete shortly after entering the residential addiction recovery program (following an initial weeklong assessment period).

"The wilderness is a great place to get sober," Ms. Taylor said. "It's the perfect place to realize that you don't have control over the world around you, but that you can control yourself, how you respond, and can make decisions about your life. It's extremely empowering."

In the wilderness, Ms. Taylor said, clients have the time, space, and support to shed the negativity that previously permeated their lives.

"The wilderness helps you get right-sized," she said. "It helps you come to terms with your identity, and gets you to a place where you're ready to make a commitment to the values and beliefs that will help you live a healthy life."

90 Days of Sobriety

When the young men have completed the wilderness component of the Passages to Recovery experience, they are about halfway toward their goal of 90 days of sobriety.

During their time in the wilderness (which is referred to as the "Passages I" stage of the residential addiction recovery program), the clients have been developing a clearer sense of their own identity, and have begun developing the skills and strategies that they will hone during the second half of their residential treatment (Passages II) and use during their long-term recovery.

"What occurs during our 90-day drug rehab program is that clients work through the 12-Step recovery process, so they understand how to live a sober life," Ms. Taylor said.

When the young men return to the Valley Site (where new students prepare for their wilderness experience and where veteran students who are completing Passages II are based), they begin the process of transferring their newly acquired insights and commitments into the tangible skills and strategies that will form the foundation of their long-term recovery.

"[After the clients complete the wilderness component] they begin to integrate back into the community," Ms. Taylor said. "They complete projects within the community, they go to meetings, and they assume responsibility for taking care of themselves. During Passages II, they really learn a lot about how to be a functioning sober adult in the world."

Making Connections

During the second phase of the Passages to Recovery residential addiction recovery program, the young men will continue the process of establishing and maintaining supportive relationships – a process that Ms. Taylor said began the moment they arrived at the program.

"Our emphasis on supportive relationships starts from the day they get here," she said. "From the very first person that they meet, our goal is that every conversation they have is welcoming and supportive. A person in recovery is very fragile, and we want them to know that this is a safe place."

In addition to making connections with those who can offer (or benefit from) support, clients who are completing Passages II will be making important internal connections on both a physical and psychological basis.

"We used to think that the brain didn't heal from the damage of substance abuse, but now we know that it does – it can re-establish its patterns," Ms. Taylor said. "We're learning so much about the brain, and we're making tremendous advances in our ability to help heal the brains of recovering addicts."

At the Valley Site, clients will work through role-playing opportunities, or "psychodramas," that have the dual purpose of preparing them to respond to stressors in a healthy manner while also challenging their healing brains to exert positive control over their decisions and behaviors.

"When somebody's an addict, it's all about survival, but we get them to the point when they're making choices again," Ms. Taylor said. "Around day 65 of our 90-day drug rehab program, neuroplasticity starts to happen in their brains. We can see that they're starting to make new connections, and it's obvious that the changes in their neuropathways are not just supporting drug use for survival, but new pathways are leading to healthier behavior about survival. They're now about making a healthy decision – they are not merely reacting, but rather responding."

Preparing for Lifelong Sobriety

Though the 90-day mark is an important milestone in the recovery process, it does not offer any guarantees regarding continued success. For that reason, Ms. Taylor said, Passages to Recovery's addiction treatment program is designed to be the first in a series of stages that comprise lifelong recovery.

"The longer that someone can be in a sober living environment where they're compelled to stay sober and work the program, the better chance they have of staying clean for a lifetime," Ms. Taylor said. "Once they get past a year of sobriety, the chance of them staying sober is incredibly high. We're going to help with the first 90 days, and get them to a place where they can practice recovery."

As the date nears when they will graduate from this phase of their drug rehab and recovery process, the Passages to Recovery clients take on increasing levels of responsibility over their present and future lives.

"In the wilderness, they learned that they have control over how they think, how they feel, and what choices they make," Ms. Taylor said. "At the Valley Site, a lot of responsibilities are turned over to them. For example, they research aftercare options, they take greater responsibility for updating their family about their progress, and they plan how they'll live their lives and continue their recovery after they leave Passages to Recovery. Everything we do is focused on helping them learn how to live a sober life."

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Achieving Ninety Days of Sobriety Is First Step Toward a Drug Free Future