Drug Rehab Blog

Cirque Lodge offers an active alcohol and drug rehab program. One thing we require of clients is that they are physically capable to take part in a number of our experiential elements. Alcoholism and drug addiction can do adverse things to an individual physically. In addition to supplying recovery for the mind and spirit, Cirque’s active program provides recovery for the body. Each day, residents of our facilities can take advantage of exercise and experiential work that promotes a physical recovery.

The majority of each day in drug rehab is designated to treating the disease of addiction. At Cirque Lodge, this is done a little differently with the use of experiential activities. Experiential work provides a new way to develop skills needed for recovery. It also helps by providing exercise and improving ones health. Residents can even work with personal trainers during free time to improve overall wellness. Some people come to rehab in pretty bad shape. The balance to Cirque Lodge provides them a recovery for their mind and spirit. The active approach offers recovery for the body.

Cirque Lodge uses a ropes course in teaching recovery strategies. But not all of these activities require the ropes challenge course itself. A number of challenges and exercises take place right on the ground of the soundstage. Residents in alcohol and drug rehab are presented with a challenge or problem. The exercise requires them to work as a group or an individual and accomplish the feat. These exercises can help them in using cognitions that the addicted mindset is not used to. The result can be developed into a skill needed for the recovery process.

Members of the experiential staff work with residents in these ropes course activities. They provide help and support, and also instruction on the challenge at hand. Something as simple ropes, blindfolds, 2×4’s, logs and mats can teach many different lessons on recovery and building support. At the end of these exercises, the residents sit down with members of staff and discuss what was learned from the exercise. Individuals need every skill they can get in working a recovery process. Experiential activities like these provide a bevy of tools that can be utilized in developing long term sobriety.

A number of different experiential elements are used as recovery tools at Cirque Lodge. In alcohol and drug rehab here in the mountains residents are not just told how to overcome their addictions and find recovery (though this is well covered); they experience it on a first hand basis. A lot of this is done through experiential activities. We get clients out of the group room and onto the mountains. They go on a hike, go biking, raft the river, and this time of year snow shoeing. With all these activities are lessons for recovery and chances for internal changes.

The most unique outdoor activity used in experiential therapy is the Cirque Lodge helicopter. Residents who are working their 3rd step of recovery have the opportunity to go on a private helicopter flight. Residents take to the air and get to witness this beautiful landscape from this vantage point. In the middle of this tour, the helicopter lands in a remote spot in the mountains.  Residents are given this time to do some hiking, or just to find a quiet spot for some soul searching. It is amazing for those working their 3rd step (Turning over one’s will and problems to a higher power) to have this communion with nature.

Experiential activities are an influential piece to vital spiritual experiences. Such an experience can be the influencing factor in lasting sobriety. These experiences can come in so many ways. It isn’t always of experiential work; it can come from working closely with a counselor, or in an AA meeting. As a treatment facility, we want to afford our residents every opportunity to have such an experience while in treatment. This can be a foundation for continuing to work the recovery process after alcohol or drug rehabilitation is completed.

Inside the Cirque Lodge Studio is a 17,000 foot soundstage. This massive room houses our ropes and climbing course. Two large tripods are erected several stories high and are connected with a series of climbing events and challenges. For the residents in alcohol and drug rehab, these activities are used to challenge and to teach cognitive lessons. These climbing events challenge the individual to get out of their comfort and overcome fears. These unique drug rehab activities are a part of our experiential program, which is a powerful piece to Cirque Lodge’s effectiveness.

There are a number of high rope elements and challenges. Some are individual feats and others require team work and support to accomplish. Cognitive elements are also utilized in high ropes challenges. Different areas of the ropes course are used to spark different thoughts towards recovery. The ropes course is not entirely a challenge. Some elements are also exciting and rewarding. There is a zip line that descends to the floor of the soundstage. There is also a giant swing that pendulums those in drug rehab the entire span of the room.

The ropes course is a part of our experiential program. The balance of effective addiction therapies and experiential work has provided a highly effective approach for those struggling with addictions. Each day a different experiential outing is a part of treatment. The ropes course, equine therapy, the mountain and even a private helicopter are all used in alcohol and drug rehab at Cirque Lodge. These elements can show individuals the joys recovery and be influential pieces to personal change. The ropes course offers many unique challenges and opportunities for internal reflection.

This time of year, the mountains surrounding Cirque Lodge are pretty covered in the deep snow of winter. Residents in alcohol and drug rehab can still have chances to get our and do some snow shoeing, hiking and on the good days the Cirque Lodge helicopter will still fly residents to private mountain peaks. Our experiential team even will spend hours digging out the fire pit from several feet of snow for our special recovery bonfires we provide on occasion.

The purpose of all these elements, in summer heat and winter snow, is to give individuals who are struggling with addiction a chance for change. At Cirque, we feel this change has got to come from within, and we feel it comes about through vital spiritual experiences. Our experiential team has created a program that is just so dynamic and effective. It does more than provide unique ways for exercise. It teaches skills for recovery and provides individuals an abundance of opportunities to experience internal changes.

This time of year as the snow begins to accumulate, some may complain about cars getting stuck, or how much snow they have to shovel. For the individual in alcohol and drug rehab at Cirque Lodge, the time in the snow can be seen as the moment in their life they left their addictions and problems behind, and found the joys of recovery.

Cirque Lodge uses different elements of experiential programming to teach lessons for the recovery process. Those in alcohol rehab can learn things from these unique and different areas of recovery they have never encountered before. One unique piece is working with horses. Now, in the winter months, the horses come into our indoor arena and stalls for this unique experiential work. Our residents are given opportunities during their stay to work with the horses as a part of the more traditional elements of addiction treatment.

Getting a bridle on a horse and leading them through exercises is far easier said than done. Horses are creatures of flight naturally, and this can be a great challenge to the alcoholic/addict.  The individual must gain the trust of horse. This process can provide therapeutic answers to one’s life; a realization that it is okay to ask for help with things beyond one’s control.  In the beginning, the alcoholic/addict can feel frustrated by the actions of the horse. When the connection is made and trust is established, this is greatly changed. The horse is no longer as flighty. They are very trusting and willing to obey commands.

It seems residents gain exactly what they need of from the equine exercise. People can be suffering in different ways. They can be looking for completely different answers. Working with the horses can help them in finding these answers. Members of our experiential team are there every step of the way to help with the exercise, and to provide these needed lessons with love, care and support.  You would never think that lessons on alcohol or drug addiction could be discovered through an animal like a horse. The horses at Cirque Lodge have helped many with lessons on recovery they have been searching for.

The Cirque Lodge has seen its first big snow of the year.  This snow kind of changes the elements of our experiential program. At Cirque, experiential activities (Used for instruction, enjoyment and skill building) are an integral, effective and unique part to the more traditional forms of alcohol or drug rehab. We use our mountain location, the river and nature as venues for a number of therapeutic activities. Well, when it snows a lot of these activities change.  Nature hikes, and outdoor activities are now performed with snow shoes. Usually on the snowy days the experiential program turns to the indoors for ropes activities and working with horses in the indoor arena.

Experiential work is a highly effective difference to alcohol and drug rehab at the Cirque. In addition to a personalized program, experiential work teaches needed lessons on recovery, and methodologies to challenge the mindsets and behaviors of alcoholism or drug addiction.  These activities are challenging, but also fun and engaging. Some require individuals to work as a team, and also in developing skills in asking for help with things beyond our control; something that alcoholics and addicts can struggle with.

 Experiential activities also provide individuals with healing and spiritual recovery.  The Cirque Lodge is founded on the 12-step program, and the 12-steps are geared to help individuals with a recovery of body, mind and spirit. Individuals who struggle with substance abuse can be at low ebb spiritually. Nature, the mountain (even in the snow), and support are used in helping the alcoholic/addict with this type of recovery.  Vital spiritual experiences are a life changing solution to the struggle. The ruling forces of addiction begin to be replaced by the new healthy concepts of sobriety. Even though the snow is falling, the life changing impact of Cirque’s experiential program continues to help individuals in finding positive solutions for their addictions.

Alcohol and drug rehab at Cirque Lodge offers many elements of recovery. We have the personalized therapies for addressing alcoholism, drug addiction and their created behavioral problems. We also offer an effective introduction to the 12-step program. These elements take on a whole new life when they are a part of experiential work. Experiential therapies are a unique element to our treatment facility. They are profoundly powerful in teaching the strategies of recovery and providing a needed spiritual awakening.

Experiential work gets the alcoholic/addict out their comfort zone and challenges them. By working through a ropes activity or with horses one can learn new strategies against the impulses to drink or use. They can also sense and realize things within themselves that can require change. Some of the experiential efforts require the help, thinking and support of a group. One can find strength within this support, but also can discover what role they play in a supportive environment. All the while, members of our experiential staff are available to help with instruction and the underlying message of the exercise.

Experiential work is also important in the recovery process and in providing vital spiritual experiences. We use nature and the spirit of the mountain to provide healing. We take our residents out onto the mountain and into the surround of nature many times during their stay. We use this as a venue for teaching concepts of the 12-step program, and to provide a quiet and serene place for meditation. Our experiential program provides a different take to treatment and therapy; for the alcoholic/addict, a powerful tool for creating life changing experiences.

Alcohol and drug rehab provides different and unique activities here. Cirque has a giant indoor ropes course designated for working with residents. But not all elements of the ropes course involve high wire walking and challenging climbing events. Some of these events challenge in a different way, the cognitive mental process. A number of different activities are referred to as “low ropes”. Low ropes events require problem solving skills and working as a team to overcome challenges. Such elements can help in building support, and provide individuals a different way of thinking about a difficult situation (One that does not involve drugs or alcohol).

Our experiential team is always coming up with new ways to challenge residents with these problem solving exercises. Residents come up with new and different ways to accomplish the challenge at hand. One time the residents used all the shoelaces from their shoes to faction a rope to accomplish the task. This can be a fun and therapeutic experience as the residents work together to attack and overcome their challenge.

When all is said and done, each low ropes activity begins or ends with a discussion. Residents can discuss what they learned from the exercise, and not everyone has the same emotions or experience with the activity. Residents learn from each other as they support one another. The Cirque Lodge uses many different types of recovery programming. Some of it is intensive therapies, and parts of it are exercises like the ropes course. We strive to give each resident so many different opportunities to learn, grow, and have that needed internally changing experience.

Part of alcohol and drug rehab at Cirque Lodge is our experiential program. We use indoor and outdoor activities to promote recovery and enhance the connection of body, mind and spirit. A challenging ropes course, art, nature, horses and even a helicopter are all used in providing a therapeutic and instructive recovery element. It also helps to make alcohol and drug rehab a little more of enjoyable and life changing experience.

We offer many different types of experiential activities. They are designed to help individuals within the terms of their own physical conditioning. As the recovery process continues, the overall health of individuals can also improve. We introduce new and more challenging experiential work. Some of these activities are intended to teach skills for the recovery process. They challenge the behaviors that were developed with addiction with behaviors conducive to the concepts of recovery.

We’ve talked of how experiential work helps with body and mind. Most importantly experiential therapy provides experiences for the spirit. The alcoholic/addict can be at quite low ebb spiritually when they enter alcohol or drug rehab. We use nature as a healing element and concepts of the 12-step program to promote a spiritual recovery. These activities can influence vital spiritual experiences. These create an internal shift and great emotional displacement. The ruling forces of addiction are replaced with new concepts of recovery.