The Keys to Recovery: Long-Term Addiction Treatment, Spirituality, and a Sense of Community

By Meghan Vivo

In high school, Jeff Bratton was a star athlete and beloved son, brother and friend. He began using drugs in his early teens, first experimenting with pot and alcohol, quickly graduating to cocaine and ketamine, and eventually becoming addicted to heroin.

Following the advice of an Italian recovering addict – stagli vicino or “stay close” – Jeff’s mom, Libby, stood by her son’s side, offering words of encouragement and suggestions for rehab, while her son struggled to find his way into recovery. During this most traumatic time in her life, Libby kept a journal about her family’s struggles and eventually wrote the book Stay Close: A Mother’s Story of her Son’s Addiction.

After years of drug abuse, legal problems, health scares, lost jobs, wounded relationships, car accidents, and a host of lies and manipulations, Jeff admitted he had a substance abuse problem and agreed to seek treatment.

But as with most things related to addiction, the road to recovery wasn’t easy. Jeff admitted himself into hospital detox programs, outpatient programs, and methadone clinics, attended a variety of 28-day residential addiction treatment programs, and lived in halfway houses at various points along his journey.

But each time, the addiction reared its head and he relapsed. Although he “looked fine” to outside observers, and even managed to finish college, hold down jobs and have a girlfriend, his life was spiraling out of control.

Eventually, Jeff moved to southern California, descended even further into his addiction and finally committed to long-term drug treatment. After completing two and a half months of residential drug rehab, Jeff enrolled in an extended care program at Sober Living by the Sea, a renowned addiction treatment program in Newport Beach, California.

Since that time, Jeff did the hard work of establishing and maintaining his sobriety, and on July 21, 2009, celebrated three years sober. Now, being able to look back with some sense of clarity and perspective, Jeff and his mom feel that there were at least three essential components that led to his successful recovery: long-term addiction treatment, a sense of community and a connection with a higher power.

The Benefits of Extended Addiction Treatment

Over the course of his stay in southern California, Jeff learned important lessons from other families, people in recovery and a number of prominent doctors in the addiction field. One of those lessons was the necessity of long-term addiction treatment.

“I used to believe that Jeff recovered when he was in treatment centers, that when he walked out of a facility he was healed, he was Jeff,” Libby writes in Stay Close. “I was finally learning that recovery didn’t work like that. An institution merely puts space between the addict and the drug. The real recovery, the real transformation of becoming Jeff again, would take time. … Healing takes time; healing takes more time than a thirty-day stay in a recovery center.”

In addition to spending over two months in a residential drug rehab program, Jeff continued receiving treatment at Sober Living’s extended care program. Created in 1986, this program was one of the first long-term drug rehabs and continues to be the preferred destination for men and women who have completed a 30-day "primary treatment" program and are ready to continue their care in a structured "real world" environment.

In Sober Living’s extended care program, Jeff lived in an apartment by the beach under the supervision of a “house parent,” where he was able to live independently, work part-time, and enjoy regular leisure activities like going to the mall, beach, or a movie, but with a number of checks and balances in place including:

• Drug and alcohol testing every 72 hours
• Addiction workshops and recovery lectures offered by specialists in the field of addiction
• Participation in individual, group and family therapy sessions led by an assigned case manager or therapist
• Daily attendance at AA/NA meetings

His daily life, which for years consisted of getting up and getting high first thing in the morning and throughout the day, began to have some sense of normalcy. During his stay at Sober Living by the Sea, Jeff worked at a local department store and began making sober friends and enjoying sober activities. During this critical transition time, Jeff rediscovered his identity and mustered the courage to rebuild his life.

“Being in treatment for a long time made all the difference,” says Jeff. “That and connecting with sober people. Also, seeing the commitment and sincerity of the counselors at Sober Living had a huge impact on my recovery. And the timing mattered, too – by that point, I had reached the end of my rope. I knew I was ready.”

Residents in extended care start out with a high level of structure and earn more flexibility as they prove their trustworthiness and commitment to sobriety. The staff at Sober Living provides each resident with the tools to deal with this increasing freedom, including a sponsor, AA/NA meetings, and therapy.

Dr. Kevin McCauley, who gave presentations and seminars about the disease of addiction to residents in Sober Living’s extended care program, explained the neurology behind the disease and left a lasting impression on Jeff and his mom.

“With more knowledge and education, Jeff was able to identify the biological and psychological underpinnings of his addiction,” says Libby. “For the first time, his addiction started to make sense to him intellectually. This freed him from the shame and guilt and released him to recovery.”

According to Jeff, extended care is essential to bridge the gap between life in treatment and life in the real world. “Sober Living gave each resident exactly what he needed – the environment could be as controlled as the person needed but also gave us space to spread out and test our personal freedom in a real-world environment,” he says.

Although other extended care facilities exist, Jeff found Newport Beach to be a great place to learn to enjoy life without drugs or alcohol. “Living by the beach offset the heaviness in other areas of life,” he says. “Most addicts don’t just waltz into treatment. In most cases, there has been trauma, loved ones have had to intervene, and there has been a period of intense drama.”

A Sense of Community, A Visible Sign of Hope

Although long-term drug rehab proved essential for Jeff, it wasn’t sufficient on its own. “What Jeff needed was long-term care in a place where he felt supported by a community,” says Libby. “There’s something magical about a community. At other recovery centers, Jeff felt caged in and wasn’t given the freedom to make the choice to stay sober himself – and within the first couple of weeks he gave up and left.”

One reason Sober Living by the Sea made a difference, according to Libby, is because it created a sense of community between men gathering together to support one another through the process of recovery. The staff gave Jeff enough freedom to make mistakes as well as enough support to learn from them and get right back on track.

“Unlike other rehab centers, where we were locked down for months, at Sober Living I was part of the everyday community in Newport Beach,” says Jeff. “I felt like a regular human being again, not just a patient, and had the time and freedom to learn to live a different lifestyle. It was empowering. When I left Sober Living, it was a much smoother transition – I already knew what to do because I had been doing it for months.”

At Sober Living, alumni would come back to weekly AA/NA meetings and speak with current residents about their experiences. Jeff frequently remarked about how happy and healthy they looked. To Libby, this was a “visible sign of hope” that kept Jeff going even during the most difficult times. “The staff, his sponsor and the other residents formed a circle around Jeff and kept him safe until he was ready to do it on his own,” she explains.

Libby, a breast cancer survivor, compares her experience of fighting breast cancer to Jeff’s fight against addiction. “Just as we walk for breast cancer as a visible sign of hope for others, addicts need something that shows them they can survive and live well even after being faced with such a horrible disease. The community at Sober Living helped give Jeff that sign of hope.”

A Spiritual Awakening

Another essential element of recovery, according to Jeff, was his attendance of services at a local church and the development of a spiritual connection. Jeff had resisted spirituality as a core tenet of recovery for years, perhaps more so than any other aspect of the 12-Step program. Only when he decided to surrender to the process and give it a chance did he start to regain control over his life.

“Rehab and the 12 Steps really do work, but you have to give it time,” says Jeff. “Once I gave it a chance, without the framework of cynicism and arrogance, or thinking I was ‘too cool for rehab,’ things started to stick.”

“Spirituality sends a powerful message that God is for everyone – you can be an alcoholic, addict, rich, poor, ugly, sick or anything else and there is still hope and love for you,” says Libby. “That spiritual connection continues to feed Jeff hope and strength – he doesn’t fight life like he used to.”

It is up to each individual struggling with addiction to find their own keys to recovery. For Jeff, his own readiness combined with long-term addiction treatment, feeling part of a larger community, and connecting with a higher power enabled him to learn to live again – this time without drugs or alcohol.