Occupational therapy is a crucial element of a patient’s treatment as it targets social and professional relapse risk areas for patients. Addiction can create dysfunctional thought and behavioural patterns around social and work activities which directly affect performance in the workplace. The negative consequences of addiction can lead to absenteeism, loss of jobs, isolation from friends and family,  unfulfilled potential in the workplace and loss of investment for employers in employees.

The benefits of occupational therapy sessions are far-reaching:

  • Patients are assisted in identifying how their chemical or behavioural addiction affected the most meaningful roles they play in society – such as the role of parent, spouse, son/daughter, friend, work colleague, professional. They can then rebuild these roles and learn to effectively communicate their own needs with others.
  • Patients practice coping mechanisms and find new, healthy ways to deal with daily stressors and function properly on a daily basis.
  • Occupational therapists support clients in restoring the skills necessary to fulfil daily tasks and activities – such as mental focus which is greatly impacted by substance abuse.
  • Patients are guided to identify addiction triggers and learn to self-regulate through coping strategies so that they avoid relapse or manage stress.
  • Occupational therapists help patients find satisfaction in smaller, everyday tasks without abusing alcohol or drugs. Patients are encouraged to relearn how to find satisfaction in everyday activities and responsibilities such as organising a daily schedule, managing household affairs, reentering the workplace, re-kickstarting a career, managing money or engaging in social relationships.
  • Increase in personal and professional satisfaction and morale.

In order to help patients get back to their usual routine and achieve the normal everyday tasks they were completing on a daily basis before their lives were affected by the abuse of alcohol and drugs, we offer occupational therapy.

Expert Therapy Team

At Castle Health we have a specialised team of occupational therapists. They work with each patient in individual sessions where they evaluate and set short and long-term goals for work and social areas for the successful recovery from alcohol, drugs or behavioural addictions.

People suffering from addiction may experience attention difficulties, may find it hard to make decisions or solve simple problems as their focus has been negatively affected by chemical abuse. The role of an occupational therapist is to identify areas of the patient’s life that could be improved and work with the patient to find new substance-free ways to complete everyday tasks.

After occupational therapy sessions, patients report many improvements: they have a better self-image, feel more confident about themselves, find healthy activities that bring them joy and well-being, develop a clear plan of reintegrating into their job roles.

Occupational therapy not only helps recovering addiction patients enhance their long-term abstinence and overall well-being, but also redesign their life, develop a healthy lifestyle, find new meaning and occupation that ultimately makes a considerable difference in not just their personal life, but also that of their family and community.