Addicts need all of the help they can get in order to stay clean and sober. It’s easy to backslide back into the drugs and alcohol, even when you’ve been through rehab. You need as many people in your corner as you can get if you want to stay clean.
Addicts are always addicts, and those that can’t admit that will be the ones that fall back into their vice the quickest. You need to do more than go to the meetings though, you need to make sure that you are letting your family help you in any way they can.
Being Honest With Them
You need to start out by being honest with your family about your addiction. If you hid pills or alcohol in the past, let them know. Share your hiding places with them so they can help keep an eye out on your process and make sure that you aren’t trying to sneak around in the future.
Honesty with your family about what you’ve gone through may be one of the things that keeps your children from following in your footsteps. You want to make sure they understand that there is nothing great about living life as a junkie or an alcoholic. Instead, they need to know the tragedies of this lifestyle of addiction.
Using A Family Program
Family programs through rehab can be an important step in recovery. Through these programs your family gets a chance to recover from your addiction. When you are on drugs and/or alcohol you are not just harming yourself, but also your entire family.
Educating your family on addiction is the best way to get them to understand what you have gone through and the continual issues you will go through as a recovering addict.
Meetings For Family
Just like the NA and AA meetings for you, as a recovering addict, there are also meetings for family members. These meetings can be as useful for your family as they want them to be. It gives them more of an understanding of the steps you’ve gone through and will continue going through.
Letting Them Help You
Your family can be a great help to you, even if they can’t understand exactly what you are going through. Sometimes a simple hug can make all the difference in your day. Let your family know that you need their support in your recovery if you are going to be able to stay off the drugs or alcohol.
You don’t want them to feel like if you relapse it will be all their fault though. Just let them understand that recovery isn’t always successful and they are not to blame for your possible relapse. Part of their therapy will be learning this too, which is why they need to be attending their own meetings.
Originally posted on January 24, 2016 @ 2:54 pm
