Find sober friends. Focus on your mental and physical health. Seek support.
Those are the three things that just about every expert out there would tell you to do after finishing treatment for drug or alcohol addiction.
The great news is that California is an absolutely ideal place to achieve all three of those goals. Imagine biking along the Pacific Ocean, seeing a van Gogh at the Getty Museum, grabbing coffee with a buddy in San Francisco, hiking in Yosemite National Park or hitting a farmers market in San Diego.
Your options are virtually endless in California.
Living in California After Addiction
If that all sounds too good to be true, it isn’t. But what can be tough is finding an affordable place to live.
While you may have to take Beverly Hills off your wish list, you should check out the following five places—all of which made Livability.Com’s list of the top five most affordable (yet still fantastic) places to live in California.
- Oxnard is about an hour north of Los Angeles and boasts reasonably priced beachfront living.
- Ventura is known for its five colleges, top-notch shopping and many surfing competitions.
- Simi Valley is a hiker’s paradise, as well as a science hub.
- Vacaville is located an hour outside of San Francisco and is home to ranchers, farmers and people looking for a quiet place to enjoy life.
- Camarillo attracts shoppers from the rest of Southern California, thanks to its many outlet malls. It also boasts a popular farmers market.
Finding Support and Friends
By now, you know how to find support through groups like Alcoholics Anymous, Narcotics Anonymous and SMART Recovery.
But California also offers the opportunity to engage in activities that are good for both your mind and body. You can learn to surf, hike part of the Pacific Crest Trail, shop at farmers markets year-round, learn to paint or take up jogging (with a view, of course).
In fact, The Fix named Los Angeles one of the 10 best cities in the United States for sober living, noting the city’s “hip, thriving sobriety culture.”
Learning How to Start Over After Addiction at The Raleigh House
The Raleigh House is a residential treatment center located in Denver that believes addiction isn’t just a physical problem—which means that the solution to addiction must also be more than physical.
Part of our mission is to teach you the coping skills you’ll need to manage—and succeed at—life after rehab. Our master’s level trained therapists get to the root cause of addiction and will help you develop a strategy to embrace life without drugs or alcohol. Fill out our form or contact us today to learn more about the treatment programs at The Raleigh House.
