After a child, family member or close friend completes a professional addiction treatment program, you can play an important role in decreasing the chances of a relapse. In this post, we’ll share our ideas for helping with addiction recovery for your loved one while keeping in mind the “3 Cs of Addiction.”
Supporting Your Loved One After Rehab: 7 Tips for Preventing Relapse
1. Practice Active Listening – For recovering addicts, sobriety can be filled with many ups and downs. Simply being there to listen to your loved one’s triumphs and disappointments helps to build trust and gives you an opportunity to offer encouragement or emotional support during difficult times.
2. Offer a Substance Free Environment – Recovering addicts are more likely to relapse if they are constantly surrounded by temptations. If your loved one is staying at your home or visiting with you, consider removing alcohol or other drugs.
3. Suggest Substance Free Activities – When planning activities, think of things you can do together that don’t revolve around the use of chemical substances. This is a great opportunity for both of you to explore your hobbies together.
4. Consider a Support Group for Yourself – Supporting a recovering addict can take a toll on you and your family. This is perfectly normal. In fact, there are several support groups that are especially for the friends and family of recovering addicts. Parents of Addicted Loved Ones and Learn to Cope are two examples you may want to consider.
5. Acknowledge Progress – Addiction recovery isn’t easy. Tell your loved one that you are proud of the progress you see and that you are always available to help.
6. Support Healthy Coping Skills – Stress and disappointment in life are unavoidable. These are potential triggers that could cause your loved one to relapse into substance abuse. If you notice a change in your loved one’s mood, you can help by offering to talk through stress-related problems.
7. Be Prepared for Setbacks – Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing illness. And, like any chronic illness, setbacks may occur despite your loved one’s best intentions. If your loved one makes a mistake, continue to offer your support using the tips shown here.
You Can Make Addiction Recovery Easier
Remember, you can’t control your loved one, and you certainly can’t control the addiction. You can only control yourself. So, if you really want to help a loved one recover from drug or alcohol dependency, focus on how you can make life-long recovery easier. If you’d like to learn more about how you can support long-term sobriety, call The Raleigh House today.
