Rejuvenate Your Mind, Body, and Spirit
At CATCH Recovery, we believe in celebrating the milestones of your recovery journey. One such significant step is embarking on a holiday that fosters and reinforces your sober lifestyle. We’re here to guide you in planning an enjoyable and rejuvenating vacation that aligns with your path towards a life free from drugs and alcohol.
While holidays traditionally offer a respite from the rigours of daily life, the unfamiliarity of new environments can sometimes pose challenges for those in early recovery. Concerns such as maintaining routines that support sobriety, avoiding relapse triggers, and choosing and understanding travel companions are often at the forefront. That’s why we encourage the same level of mindfulness for planning holidays as we do for other ‘firsts’ in your recovery journey.
Why Take Sober Holidays?
A well-planned sober retreat is created to protect your sobriety while you take advantage of all the delightful activities you love to do when you’re on vacation.
Planning a sober vacation entails organising your time so you can keep up the behaviours that support your sobriety, like going to meetings and remaining active in your recovery network to avoid isolation. Thinking about your first sober vacation companions is another aspect of planning. The choice between having a wonderful first sober vacation and getting triggered into relapse can be made by choosing to travel with people you trust, have a close relationship with, and who understand your sobriety.
Who Can Enjoy Sober Holidays?
If you recently finished treatment, are in early recovery, have never travelled without acting out addictively, or have been sober for some time but still find travelling challenging, you may be interested in taking a sober vacation.
By making travel arrangements in advance, you can be supported around anything that might cause an emotional disturbance or relapse. You can also travel to safe locations with safe people. While on vacation, triggers may include airports and flying, unfamiliar sights, sounds, and smells in new environments, language barriers, jet lag, and/or the unknown in general.