Nearly one in every ten Americans suffer from addiction. Not only is that person struggling, but countless family members and loved ones struggle, too. When someone you care about begins to get treatment and recover from addiction, there are many ways you can show support.
1) Educate Yourself
Addiction is a family disease, meaning is puts a tremendous strain on parents, spouses, children and other family members involved. Educating yourself is one of the first things you can do to help yourself understand what your loved one is going through.
2) Engage In Family Therapy
Try to take advantage of family therapy whenever possible. This will provide support in order to help you address and heal from the issues that occurred throughout the life of the addiction. The National Council for Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCAAD) recommends family therapy to help re-balance the family and promote constructive communication between everyone.
3) Understand Your Role
It is important for you to understand your role in your loved one’s recovery. So many things are out of your control and this can be painful to grasp at first. Your loved one needs to recover from this addiction for themselves to have greater chances of succeeding. You cannot be responsible for their recovery. You should begin to set boundaries and limits, which can include no longer giving this person money or rides. It is not easy and it does not happen over night, but it will help your loved one learn to depend on themselves and not enable their addiction.
4) Gain Coping Skills
Coping skills are methods to deal with stressful situations. Obtaining and maintaining good coping skills takes practice, however utilizing these skills becomes easier over time. Most importantly, good coping skills make for good mental health wellness. Exercise and deep breathing can be positive ways to cope with stress.
5) Consider Self-Care
As your loved one slowly finds recovery, you should take care of yourself as well. You have likely put your loved one’s need before yours for some time and you are not alone. Find a support group or try talk therapy. We can pair you with a therapist who specializes in families who are living with addiction (click here).
Although this may be a difficult time for you and your family, remember that what matters in the end is that the cycle of addiction is broken and healing can finally begin.
