Activity-based therapies such as those centered around art, music, writing, and even fitness can be a valuable addition to more traditional substance abuse and mental health therapies. For many individuals, activity-based therapies can play an important role in recovery – enabling individuals to explore and uncover underlying emotional issues and build coping skills that can help them navigate life’s many challenges.
The cathartic nature of writing and creating art and music have been understood for hundreds, if not thousands of years. At Seaside Palm Beach, our clients will use these types of therapies to help them find new ways to cope with negative feelings and express themselves. This process cultivates self-awareness and allows our therapists to examine each individual in an unrestricted manner – as these techniques allow each person to express themselves without holding back. This enables both client and therapist to dig deeper and uncover what may be the root causes of an individual’s substance abuse or mental health issues.
Using our expressive writing therapy program and other activity-based therapy programs, clients at Seaside Palm Beach can gain a greater understanding of their thought and behavior patterns, allowing them to get to know themselves better. Our clients are also given the option to share some of their writing with close friends and family members – helping them to begin rebuilding the oftentimes strained or shattered relationships that accompany chronic substance abuse and mental illness.
For many individuals, fitness-based therapies can also be particularly helpful in treatment. These therapies can activate natural endorphins in the brain that can replace the negative effects of drugs or alcohol with a positive substitute that actually improves physical and mental health over the long term. This type of approach can also help to repair some of the physical damage that chronic substance abusers have often inflicted upon their bodies as well as reduce underlying sources of physical pain that may have led to attempts to self-medicate with illicit drugs or alcohol.
The goal of Seaside Palm Beach’s activity-based therapy programs is to create a healing process that begins internally and flows externally outward. Our approach tries to heal the individual from the inside out. For those who haven’t confronted their inner thoughts and fears, this is a valuable rehabilitation tool that can also improve overall mental and physical health for the rest of one’s life. This can be critical in avoiding post-treatment relapse and improving one’s quality of life.
