The day has finally come that you and your family and friends will be welcoming home your loved one from their recovery program. They look awesome and sound even better than they ever have before. You are positive and confident about your clean and sober loved one, but uncertainties about the future remain. Learn how to help your family or friend adjust to life after rehab with Banyan Treatment Center Pompano.
Aiding the Transition From Rehab to Home
It can be hard to know what to say to someone after rehab or how to best support them as they regain their footing in their regular, everyday life. That is why our Pompano Beach treatment center has curated this comprehensive list that provides effective suggestions for these situations.
Ask Them How You Can Be Supportive
Communication is key in any relationship, but especially in one where you’re dealing with someone going through a radical lifestyle change. The lines of communication between you and this person most likely weren’t very strong before their recovery, and you both may need some healing. When speaking with someone who recently left rehab, ask what you can do to be supportive. It can be a wonderful way to open up communication with the addict or alcoholic.
Check Out Al-Anon Meetings
Al-anon is a free support group that serves people just like you – the loved ones of addicts and alcoholics. These meetings provide encouragement and coping methods for dealing with the emotional and physical stress that can accompany supporting a loved one in recovery. Seeking support for yourself is two-fold in its beneficial aspect. It might encourage your recovering loved one to feel more comfortable and overall positive towards seeking support for themselves in the form of recovery and aftercare support services when they witness you getting support.
Speak With Their Therapist
When they are in treatment, patients develop a very close relationship with their therapists. Depending on if your loved one is comfortable with it, see if you can speak with their therapist from treatment. This could be the best person (especially in a professional sense) to help them figure out what steps to take with their loved ones. They may also have insight into the relapse prevention plan in place and how family dynamics factor in. Due to HIPAA and privacy laws, your loved one will need to reach out to the therapist and ask them to contact you.
Manage Your Expectations
It’s important to have realistic expectations about the recovery process and realize that, just like with any other major life changes and adjustments, there will be ups and downs. Remind yourself that your loved one will not be able to behave ‘perfectly’ right away. Often, recovering addicts and alcoholics who have recently completed a treatment program will need time to adjust to life after rehab. This is something your loved one will be working on in their recovery program, but you won’t always see immediate results, and you will need to have some patience.
Develop a Support System of Your Own
Going to Al-Anon meetings can be a great way to access support for families of addicts in this difficult time. It is also important to have a support system of your own. Creating a strong group of friends whom you can turn to (which can be individuals you meet in Al-anon) can be very vital to your own recovery from the disease of addiction and the parts of it that have affected your everyday life. When you’re having a rough day and need someone to talk to, it is wonderful to have people you can call who are there for you no matter what.
They say that knowledge is power, and nowhere is this truer than in the world of addiction recovery. Having a clear understanding of not just the disease itself but the family roles of addiction as well can be crucial to preventing the resurfacing of enablement or potential for relapse.
When your loved one completes treatment at one of our Broward County substance abuse programs, it can be a very emotional time. You have high hopes for them to do well, but it’s important that they discover their path to recovery on their own time. You can be a support, but you can’t enable or do it for them.
If you or a loved one are struggling with the disease of addiction, call Banyan’s Pompano Beach drug rehab at 888-280-4763 and speak with an intake specialist about our levels of care.
Related Reading
