Recovery at ATMC is Real | September is National Recovery Month

Last Updated on September 19, 2026 by Carol Gillette

Alternative to Meds Editorial Team
Medically Reviewed by ATMC Clinical Review Team

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SUD Recovery Embraces Every Aspect of Life

ATMC believes that life is precious and that each person is a unique expression of a divine spark that deserves nurturing care for complete well-being and healing. In recovery, we recognize the need for successfully embracing every aspect of life. In mental health and addiction treatment, we understand the nuances of treatment needed to restore physical, emotional, and mental wellness without relying on prescription drugs for short-term relief.

Our specialty is centered on medication withdrawal; however, the paths of addiction and medication dependence often cross over to mental health, and vice versa. This results in a wide range of effective tools that can be utilized on the road to long-term, sustainable recovery of all aspects of wellness.

Some important aspects of recovery include:

• Rebuilding neurochemical health vs neurochemical starvation/dysfunction
• Neurotoxin removal
• Safe and medically supervised medication tapering
• Opportunities for social interaction in a safe space
• Blood sugar stabilization
• Flooding the body with nutrients via diet and supplementation
• Opportunities for regular exercise
• Comfort therapies that aid in cessation
• Holistic pain management
• Personal counseling

Short-Term vs Long-Term Addiction Recovery

In the short term, drugs and medications may have created desirable effects. In a crisis situation, drugs can be necessary at times. But as tolerance develops, these positive effects diminish, and negative side effects can become problematic. There has been a paradigm shift in recent years, turning away from the disease model, in which long-term medication was the automatic first-line treatment.^2,3

ATMC takes a very different approach to long-term SUD recovery and relief. In both addiction and mental health treatment, discovering root causes for unwanted symptoms can be life-changing. Each person’s profile will require such an investigation through lab tests, interviews, and other assessments to find out what is at the bottom of a person’s unwanted symptoms. Then, these can be addressed in real-time, with a vast assortment of real and drug-free solutions.

As John Donne once said, “No man is an island.” We are constantly barraged by environmental factors, whether social, marital, job-related, or other psychological stressors. And then there are chemical assaults through the pesticides, additives, or preservatives we may consume, mercury in dental work, toxic chemicals in the air or in our water, and the list goes on. All of these can have a potential for negative neurological impact. Neurological assaults can create a cascade of symptoms that persist over time. After all, most toxins are fat-soluble and will remain in the body until they are converted to water-soluble and then removed.⁴

Thankfully, the toxic burden can be thoroughly addressed for relief if the proper protocols for neurotoxin removal are used.

Unlike the short-term efficacy of drugs, logical and effective means of resolving these life stressors can create long-term, sustainable recovery. This approach is tried and true both in addiction and in mental health crises.

Tools for Recovery are Tools for Rejuvenating Life

There are many tools that lend themselves well to the recovery process. Putting together a set of strategies is like your toolbox for both addiction and mental health recovery, and for all aspects of life. We are talking about renewal of joy and rejuvenation of life itself.

For example, exercise is a powerful tool that can provide remarkable benefits in mental clarity, energy, and even pain relief. These benefits are often overlooked but well worth exploring. Consider outside walking, hiking, swimming, cycling, yoga, Qigong, rowing, sports, stretching, and any others that spark an interest. Research shows definite improvements for anxiety relief, alleviating depression, and gaining increased energy for day-to-day life.⁵

Adding activities to your daily or weekly regimen can enhance quality of life and can be easy to implement. Perhaps there are new or old hobbies that provide keen interest, and may provide opportunities for social interactions among people with similar interests. Music, art, reading, or other creative ventures might resonate. Exploring new activities might include volunteer work, meditation, gourmet cooking, fashion design, gardening, attending workshops to learn new skills, or exploring classes at local community education venues.

You may feel it’s time to revamp neglected spiritual interests or find new ones that offer inspiration for you.

Life, moment to moment and day to day, can be enriched in so many ways. Whether you start with something easy and comfortable, or dive into something a bit more wild and exciting, just START! There’s much in life to be inspired by if we just start LIVING.^6,7

Ongoing Addiction Counseling

Counseling can be extremely effective while in a treatment program, but also after leaving a program. Working with a trusted counselor can be key to sustaining long-term abstinence and designing strategies for mental wellness. Life can be thrown into disarray even after treatment — after all, it is not life that has changed, it is you and your skill set that needs to be strengthened.

Expect the unexpected. Be ready to meet it head-on. Having counseling in place can help one overcome the challenges one may encounter. Counseling is a tool to keep at hand so that you can continue on your trajectory of success. ⁸

Nutrition is Key in SUD Recovery

An enormous body of research has shown that maintaining a correct diet is another powerful way to support and improve health, both physical and mental. Knowing what to avoid is just as important.⁹

Go organic and avoid processed food as much as possible. A wide variety of good-quality proteins, fruits, and vegetables provides the basic building blocks the body needs for repair and efficient operation. We’re talking about the central nervous system, proper hormone function, building muscle strength, cell integrity, and full function of every system in the body. Don’t shortcut the importance of a good diet regimen for the feel-good results that proper nutrition provides long-term.

Supplements play a vital role as well, as these are the activators and catalysts that enable coordination between the various systems in the body. All the vitamins and minerals have important jobs to do, especially the B vitamins, vitamins C, D, magnesium, zinc, and many others. A naturopath can guide in the selection of both foods and supplements to make sure no deficits are occurring.

To prevent blood sugar spikes, avoid excessive sugar intake and limit refined carbs.¹¹ Taking 4 or 6 small meals over the day may be easier to digest than 1 or 2 heavy meals that leave one exhausted, not energized and refreshed.

Recovery Can Involve Slow Medication Tapering

Support comes in many forms to ease the process of medication withdrawal and tapering. Working with an informed medical practitioner who understands proper tapering is essential. It’s taken decades for the drug companies to admit that medication withdrawal syndromes are real.¹⁰

Nowadays, no informed physician or psychiatrist would dare tell you it’s all in your head, or you’re imagining these things. Get knowledgeable help and be prepared to take it slow. Use a compounding pharmacy where very minute adjustments are needed. Let each dosage cut settle out before further reduction is attempted.

Slow is fast in medication tapering.

Importance of Cleansing Neurotoxins from the Body

One of the most transformative processes we know of is safely removing neurotoxins (both organic and inorganic) from the body. Neurotoxicity is associated with many mental health symptoms, such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, and others. ATMC has found through lab testing that neurotoxicity is present in the vast majority of our clients. Purging these accumulations of toxic residues is essential for long-term recovery of wellness. Through gentle chelation methods, sauna, nebulized glutathione treatments, and many other ways, these toxins can be safely removed – this can be life-changing all in itself.

Other Tools for Long-term Addiction Recovery at ATMC

You are welcome to call us for a personal consult on strategies that may be helpful for you in your path to long-term recovery. We offer the highest level of inpatient care for mental health and addiction treatment that is available anywhere. You are invited to visit our service overview for a wealth of information on the types of inpatient services provided at ATMC.

We also understand that not everyone is a candidate for long-term inpatient treatment. Other resources you may find beneficial can be found by contacting IMMH.org and searching the database at AACAM.org for local services in your area.

If you or a loved one is looking for effective inpatient alcohol treatment or a drug addiction program, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team. We are here to help you on your journey to long-term success in recovery, not only in “Recovery Month” but all year round. Call us today and make your long-term recovery REAL!

learn more about Addiction Recovery at ATMC

Sources:

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1. National Recovery Month | SAMHSA [cited 2025 Sept 15]

2. Blithikioti C, Fried EI, Albanese E, Field M, Cristea IA. Reevaluating the brain disease model of addiction. Lancet Psychiatry. 2025 Jun;12(6):469-474. doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(25)00060-4. Epub 2025 Mar 25. PMID: 40154515. [cited 2025 Sept 15]

3. McCarthy C Medicines and Society: Systemic Change Needed to Address Overprescribing British Journal of General Practice 2025;75 (756):325-329. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2025.0050 [cited 2025 Sept 15]

4. Toxicology What are Common Psychiatric Symptoms Due to Toxic Exposure? published online 2024 [cited 2025 Sept 15]

5. Mahindru A, Patil P, Agrawal V. Role of Physical Activity on Mental Health and Well-Being: A Review. Cureus. 2023 Jan 7;15(1):e33475. doi: 10.7759/cureus.33475. PMID: 36756008; PMCID: PMC9902068.  [cited 2025 Sept 15]

6. Priddy SE, Howard MO, Hanley AW, Riquino MR, Friberg-Felsted K, Garland EL. Mindfulness meditation in the treatment of substance use disorders and preventing future relapse: neurocognitive mechanisms and clinical implications. Subst Abuse Rehabil. 2018 Nov 16;9:103-114. doi: 10.2147/SAR.S145201. PMID: 30532612; PMCID: PMC6247953. [cited 2025 Sept 15]

7. Aletraris L, Paino M, Edmond MB, Roman PM, Bride BE. The use of art and music therapy in substance abuse treatment programs. J Addict Nurs. 2014 Oct-Dec;25(4):190-6. doi: 10.1097/JAN.0000000000000048. PMID: 25514689; PMCID: PMC4268880. [cited 2025 Sept 15]

8. Nakao M, Shirotsuki K, Sugaya N. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for management of mental health and stress-related disorders: Recent advances in techniques and technologies. Biopsychosoc Med. 2021 Oct 3;15(1):16. doi: 10.1186/s13030-021-00219-w. PMID: 34602086; PMCID: PMC8489050.  [cited 2025 Sept 15]

9. Jeynes KD, Gibson EL. The importance of nutrition in aiding recovery from substance use disorders: A review. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2017 Oct 1;179:229-239. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.07.006. Epub 2017 Aug 4. PMID: 28806640.  [cited 2025 Sept 15]

10. Regina AC, Gokarakonda SB, Attia FN. Withdrawal Syndromes. 2024 Sep 2. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2025 Jan–. PMID: 29083712.  [cited 2025 Sept 15]

11. Shibeshi MS, Tolcha AG, Zerihun T. Psychiatric Manifestations of Hypoglycemia in an Adolescent: A Case Report. Clin Case Rep. 2025 Aug 8;13(8):e70773. doi: 10.1002/ccr3.70773. PMID: 40787164; PMCID: PMC12334273. [cited 2025 Sept 15]

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Originally Published September 15, 2025 by Diane Ridaeus