A New Beginning
Life Skills Training

Life skills are those skills that allow an individual to face every day confidently, manage their own affairs, be self-supporting and a productive member of society. These skills could be occupational, vocational, physical, relational or emotional skills. They are the skills that make us mature adults. They are the skills, however, that completely deteriorate during active addiction.

Active addiction strips us of our ability to function at a basic human level. As the brain adjusts to whatever chemical substance we have been pumping into our system, it begins prioritizing our addictions over basic survival mechanisms. We swap out healthy and nutritious meals for whatever is convenient (or nothing at all), financial insecurity leaves us unable to keep up with rent or mortgage payments, and our interpersonal relationships fall by the wayside completely. We also might pick up a range of bad habits. Some of us steal from our family members and friends. Some start driving while under the influence, or showing up to work late (if at all). Our addicted selves lie and lie and lie through our teeth in order to keep our addiction safe and protected.

By the time we make the decision to get clean and sober, we often have a massive pile of unattended responsibilities that seem entirely too daunting to tackle. At The Plymouth House we focus on teaching our clients the life skills they need to handle unfinished business and reintegrate into society. Our compassionate and dedicated case managers, 12-step mentors and therapists all participate in our treatment program to help individuals regain the confidence and tools they need to live an abundant life.

What is Life Skills Training?

Life Skills Training helps clients regain the skills they need to be self-sufficient and successful in their day-to-day lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) featured a comprehensive list of vital life skills in a 1998 publication. A life skill, WHO defined, was any skill that involved, “dealing with conflict that cannot be resolved, dealing with authority, solving problems, making and keeping friends/relationships, cooperation, self-awareness, creative thinking, decision-making, critical thinking, dealing with stress, negotiation, clarification of values, resisting pressure, coping with disappointment, planning ahead, empathy, dealing with emotions, assertiveness, active listening, respect, tolerance, trust, sharing, sympathy, compassion, sociability, self-esteem.”

At The Plymouth House we also focus on instilling our clients with the knowledge they need to take care of more tangible responsibilities, such as cooking, paying bills, applying for jobs, etc. If a guest needs to learn something for them to successfully tackle life when they are done with treatment, we do our best to teach them that skill.

Examples of Life Skills

Life skills that we help our clients learn include:

• Healthy communication skills – Communicating effectively is about much more than being able to hold a conversation. We teach our clients how to express their feelings and their needs, how to actively and how to offer genuine support and encouragement. We also teach clients how to communicate in a 12 step program setting.
• How to set and maintain healthy personal boundaries – Many people who struggle with active addiction come from dysfunctional relationships. Whether they were in a codependent romantic relationship, a chaotic family or toxic friendships, most of our clients lack good boundary setting skills. We teach clients how to effectively identify their own needs and set healthy personal boundaries with their loved ones whenever necessary.
• Vocational training – It is certainly not easy to hold down a job during active addiction. Many of us got fired repeatedly, failed to show up to work or complete assignments, or  showed up four our responsibilities high as kites or reeking of booze. We teach our clients to pinpoint a career path that speaks to them, and we instruct them on resume building, interview techniques and etiquette, conflict resolution in the workplace and how to hold down a job for longer than several days at a time.

• Educational assistance and placement services – Many of our clients dropped out of school when they began abusing chemical substances. We help clients re-enter into the schooling system if they so choose, and either apply to college or obtain their GED.
• Money management and budgeting – While actively struggling with alcoholism or drug abuse, the majority of the money we obtain is filtered directly into our addiction. At the Plymouth House we teach clients how to budget and save, how to pay all of their existing bills on time and ultimately how to become financially independent.
• Nutritional therapy – Nutrition is an important part of the recovery process. Our guests are provided with three delicious, healthy and balanced meals each day. Each meal is prepared by our professional chefs relying heavily on locally grown and sourced ingredients.
• Grocery shopping – While this might seem like a rather menial task, grocery shopping can be quite daunting for someone who has grown accustomed to eating little more than fast food and potato chips. We help our clients formulate shopping lists that are full of necessities and nutrient-dense foods, help them plan ahead for meals and help them budget their money accordingly.
• Keeping personal spaces and common areas clean
• Legal assistance whenever necessary – Active addiction and legal issues often go hand-in-hand. If one of our clients is dealing with unresolved legal issues, we point him or her in the right direction so that these issues can be adequately resolved by an industry professional.
• Time management – We all have a lengthy list of basic responsibilities that we must stay on top of. We teach our clients how to budget their time so that they never feel overwhelmed by taking care of these responsibilities, and so that they eventually fall into a productive routine.

Additional Services We Offer

In addition to Life Skills Training, we offer a variety of addiction services geared towards providing our guests with the most integrated care available on the East Coast. Upon admission to our program, each of our guests undergoes an in-depth physical, clinical, psychiatric and psychosocial evaluation, which helps our team develop a highly individualized treatment plan. The services included in this plan vary on a person-to-person basis and depend on personal need and existing clinical requirements.

Our services include:

• Crisis intervention services
• Case management services
• Dual diagnosis treatment options
• Relapse prevention training
• 12 step program education and immersion
• Family therapy and additional family-oriented services
• Medication assisted treatment (MAT)
• Medication management
• Personalized aftercare planning

Begin Your Recovery Journey Today 

Addiction recovery does not happen overnight — it is a slow process that takes an ample amount of patience and emotional fortitude. As recovering addicts and alcoholics we have to re-learn how to do a lot of things. At The Plymouth House we are available to help you or your loved one put the pieces back together. It might seem like an overwhelming process at first, but we will walk you through every single step of the process, tackling things one at a time and developing skills slowly so that they last. To learn more about life skills training or to learn more about our comprehensive program of addiction recovery, contact us today.