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In India family system is still strong. Generally family assumes the responsibility of rehabilitation of the recovered addict. Therefore we primarily focus on reintegration in the family. During the course of the treatment we arrange two family educative group sessions and motivate the family members to accept the friend as a person while condemning his behaviour. We stress the need to provide watchful support for his sober living. For co–dependents we extend exhaustive counselling sessions and group therapy. We also try to include influential members from the society to help in recovery and reconciliation process.
Human beings are happiest when they establish their life goals and actively strive to achieve them. The process satisfaction is more relevant than the point satisfaction. We help our friend to establish his life goals and also short term, mid term and long term goals. He is encouraged to stay on the path.
Our founder late Dr. Anita Awachat was a staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi. She believed that if a person follows the tatvas (principles) of satya (truth/honesty), ahimsa (non–violence), asteya (non–borrowing/stealing), aparigraha (destitution, living with minimum needs) and bramhacharya (celibacy, ever preferring to be a student) he can be reckoned as god’s child. The community living at Muktangan is based on these principles. We believe that these principles and rational thinking together are the building blocks of a sober life.
Self–help groups – Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are the inevitable part of the recovery process. Therefore we organize institutional meetings of NA/AA thrice a week. We also arrange day–long meetings where senior members share their experiences. The local addresses of AA meetings are provided to every friend at the time of discharge. Children of addicts meet regularly under the banner of Ankur group. Wives of addicts try to learn from each others’ experiences in Sahachari group.
Restoring and/or nurturing and enriching relationships is a very important part of the recovery process. Healthy relations assist the recovery process. We realized that friends after discharge suffer from many marital problems. Therefore, we started the group called Sahajeevan, for marital counselling. It has helped many couples to restore their relationship.
Healthy and creative activities like art, music, hobbies, and physical exercise can substitute addiction. We believe that no artificial drug should be used for treating addiction. We encourage friends to develop hobbies and express themselves in the art of their choice. Inmates publish a handwritten magazine (Manogat) monthly, beautify the premises and learn music. We have our own library of books, audio and video–cassettes. Yoga and meditation is taught to all patients. All these activities give a healthy high!
- Minimum medication administered – enough to relieve the patient of the intense withdrawals.
- Emphasis on clinical and ward observation. The patient’s validated history is collected.
- Psychological tests administered as required to get an idea about the patient’s personality and coping up patterns.
