Accountability—along with Support, Structure, Community, and Purpose—is one of the five pillars of many recovery programs. Accountability is often one of the first pillars you may exemplify as you begin your path to recovery. If you are seeking information about recovery, you have likely begun to recognize that you need help with your addictive behaviors.

You are taking the first step toward holding yourself accountable for your wellness. Accountability is also fundamentally tied to all the other pillars of recovery. After all, if you do not first take accountability—or ownership and responsibility—for your wellness, who else will?

Accepting Responsibility and Stages of Recovery

You may have heard people talk about being “ready” for recovery or being “ready” for change. Are you ready for a change? Accepting responsibility and taking accountability for your own behaviors is the first crucial step toward change. Recovery generally occurs in the following five stages:

  1. Pre-Contemplation: You may not be aware of how your actions are affecting your wellness. During pre-contemplation, you may be in the throes of your addictive behaviors. While you experience the consequences of your behaviors in the pre-contemplation stage, you may yet be unable or unwilling to accept the connection between your actions and the negative consequences of your actions. You may describe this stage as being in denial that you need to change your behaviors. This stage occurs before taking accountability.
  2. Contemplation: During contemplation, you begin to realize that the consequences of your addictive behaviors are increasingly more difficult to deny. While in this stage, you may begin to notice the consequences of your actions. However, you may still be unwilling to take steps toward recovery. You may begin to justify your addictive behaviors, yet you have not taken accountability for finding solutions or seeking out recovery.
  3. Preparation: This is the stage where accountability truly begins to appear. While in preparation, you accept that you need to change your behavior and actions. You accept responsibility for what you have done and recognize that if you do not take ownership of your addiction, you will continue to be affected by the negative consequences of your behavior. During this stage, you may begin to research recovery programs. You may also begin seeking support from those around you, in order to be successful once you engage in the recovery process.
  4. Action: Now that you have taken accountability for your recovery, you can take action. During this stage, you are seeking treatment and beginning the recovery process. You are learning new coping skills and ways to manage your addictive behaviors. You are also learning to replace unhealthy behaviors with healthy ones while building a sense of community with your peers in recovery.
  5. Maintenance: Once you have engaged in the process of recovery and learned new coping skills and healthy habits, you have to work daily to maintain your newfound healthy lifestyle. Accountability comes into play as you must accept the responsibility for sustaining your recovery. You also have to recognize if you are slipping and need to gain more recovery skills to maintain your new way of life.

Interconnections Between Accountability and the Other Pillars of Recovery

A whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts, and this holds true for the five pillars of recovery. While in recovery, you will build a sense of community within a supportive environment, which is set up to hold you accountable for your recovery.

You may have to check-in with your sponsor or your recovery staff, who will help hold you accountable. Your support team has your best interests in mind and are here to remind you of your goals. Your team will help you become the best that you can be by holding you accountable for the new life you wish to lead.

Having a daily structure will help to keep you accountable to be in a certain place at a certain time. Your structure will keep you focused on your recovery activities and sessions. Finding a purpose will also hold you accountable to something greater than yourself, as you realize that your actions have consequences that affect things beyond yourself.

You are most likely in the preparation stage of recovery if you are researching this information. Continue on your path toward a better life by accepting ownership and taking accountability for your actions. Connect with those who care about you and begin finding a pathway to a better life today.

Accountability is fundamental to recovery. The journey to wellness begins with you accepting that you need help, and the journey continues with you holding yourself accountable to being better today than you were yesterday!

Are you new to the recovery process and looking for a change? Now that you are beginning to research recovery programs and recovery information, you have likely taken accountability for your own wellness! The pathway to recovery starts with accepting that your addictive behaviors have had negative consequences in your life. Once you accept that you need to make changes, you have taken accountability for your actions and for your recovery. To continue on this pathway, call the staff at Camelback Recovery today. We offer long-term recovery in an extensive program of sober living. We have a supportive environment and our staff will help to hold you accountable to your recovery goals. Our program emphasizes the five pillars of recovery, and we are here to help you live your best life. Connect with us at (602) 466-9880.