By: Meredith Jones

Addiction impacts all walks of life. It is not a disease for the marginalized or the poor. In fact, addiction is just as prevalent in the high-performance upper echelons of society. CEOs, lawyers, doctors and other professionals deal with addiction on a daily basis. Often, one’s job can be a hindrance to sustainable recovery. If recovery treatment requires an in-patient stay, for example, it can be disastrous to a professional’s career. That’s why Live Rite Structured Recovery Corp. has  assembled the following tips and resources to assist you with your recovery.

Identifying the “What” and the “Why”

Substance abuse is a difficult condition to manage for professionals, as many will attest. Workit Health points out that drinking is especially ingrained in the business world since business meetings can involve alcohol, and success can sometimes be defined as having drinks with the boss. Annual sales meetings are often started and concluded with cocktail receptions. Although the culture of drinking is pervasive in the business and professional world, not every business leader drinks. It may be difficult, but possible to attain success on your merits and while maintaining sobriety.

The culture of addiction in business are the stresses that pervade the high-stakes professional world. Business executives may reach out for a drink or drug at the end of the day just to take the edge off. The one drink turns into a few, then a lot, and eventually the lives become negatively affected. Work suffers as well, since even a corporate superhero will get dragged down by drinking and drugs eventually.

One reason why substance abuse is prevalent in business is the similarities between the drive for success and the drive for getting high. For some, the two go hand in hand. Luckily, there are an increasing number of options for busy professionals to address their addictions, without losing their careers.

Tackling the Problem

Effective addiction recovery methods target the source of addiction. For business professionals this source may be work demands, but work is often necessary for success, for many of these professionals. They cannot always just quit their jobs and take up a low stress career. For these individuals, there are professional-aimed recovery programs including inpatient programs that help executives maintain focus on both their work and their sobriety.

These programs take a multifaceted approach to executive sobriety, often incorporating self-care techniques and camaraderie with like-minded and afflicted professionals. These self-care techniques may include massage, rest, or hard work such as engaging in counseling with family members to address concerns outside of the scope of addiction.

Executives may spend 30 days in a program that works as a reboot for them professionally and personally, where they are allowed to go to work and where they live with other professionals. With these other professionals, participants can learn that these problems are more common, which can help them shed some feelings of shame. The ability to stay in the workforce helps in the process of recovery since the professional’s life can stay relatively stable.

Stress management is often a component of these executive recovery programs, since, as Rise in Malibu notes, business-related stress is often identified as a major stressor and trigger for addictive behavior. Participants learn to manage stress naturally and without resorting to self-medicating. Exercise such as yoga and mindfulness are tools that can help supplant addictive behaviors. Since yoga is a practice, not merely an exercise, the positive impact on one’s life can be extremely beneficial for recovery.

If you're just getting a business up and running and need to seek help, make sure you have all of your ducks in a row so your company operations run smoothly and you don't have to worry about them. For example, you may be searching for a Legalzoom alternative online service to act as your business’s registered agent to oversee operations while you seek treatment. You can find a host of services available to help meet your business’s needs.

Although executive-focused recovery programs can be beneficial, they are only brief steps in a longer process of managing addiction. They are only part of a much larger lifelong pursuit. Professionals can learn to replace unhealthy rewards and stress-coping mechanisms with healthy, balanced ones that truly reward.

By: Meredith Jones