When a person suffers from substance addiction, they’re not alone in the pain that they’re experiencing. Their family and loved ones are also affected by what the addiction is doing to them. Family can be incredibly important to the recovery process and can help provide strength, guidance, and support along the way.
The Effects of Addiction on Your Family
As a person struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, it can be difficult for you to see how your actions affect those around you. As you fall deeper into addiction it begins to control every aspect of your life, even isolating you from those you love most. It can cause both short- and long-term effects on your family unit that need to be addressed through recovery. These effects can include:
- Routine conflict
- Loss of trust
- Difficulty communicating
- Financial stress
- Resentment
- Feeling of Hopelessness
Through recovery and rehabilitation, you learn how to regain control over your life. You also learn the importance of forgiveness and skills that can help you heal. Regaining control through sobriety allows you to see how your actions affect others and develop personal accountability. It helps you to take steps to better yourself and work to rebuild your relationships with those you love the most.
The Importance of Family on Sobriety
Your family has a huge influence on your life that you may not realize until you really need them and it’s easy to underestimate their impact on you. The relationships you have built within them throughout your life, your different backgrounds, and your life experiences have all helped make you into the person that you are.
Through sobriety, your family can become your biggest supporters and cheerleaders. Some of the best ways that they can help you are by:
- Educating Themselves – Education is powerful, especially when dealing with addiction. Your family taking the time to learn how addiction affects a person as well as the importance of coping mechanisms can make a world of difference during your recovery. Your family should also become well-acquainted with the 12-step program and can implement it into their own lives as a way of providing you with more support.
- Promoting Abstinence – One way your family can help to support your sobriety is by promoting abstinence from drugs and alcohol. They can show this by helping to limit your exposure to others’ alcohol or substance use by helping you stay away from social situations where use is common or by participating in sober recreational activities with you.
- Be Patient – Patience is an important and often overlooked step in sobriety. Recovery doesn’t happen overnight and it’s not an easy process. It’s essential for your family to have patience with you as you recover.
- Learn Forgiveness – Making amends is one of the key steps in the 12-step program. During this step, you will be able to assess the damage that you have done to others, including your family. Reconciling with your family during this step can be crucial to your recovery process. If your family is able to forgive you for the past it can help you work on your sobriety.
- Recognize the Signs of Relapse – There will be good days and bad days as you recover from addiction. Addiction is episodic and relapse or slips may happen periodically. Your family can help you recognize any “red flags” that could indicate a slip or relapse and put a plan into action to address it.
- Provide Much Needed Support – Personal accountability is crucial to recovery and allows you to take responsibility for your actions and learn to grow. Your family can help with this as well. Holding yourself accountable can be tough but your family can remind you how important it is to your sobriety.
- Celebrate Successes – Recovery is a long, hard journey. It’s important to celebrate your successes and you can do that with your family. As you reach milestones, take the time to recognize your work together.
Relationship-Focused Recovery at Renaissance Ranch
While receiving treatment at Renaissance Ranch’s rehab centers in Utah your family will be able to become involved in the recovery process. Your recovery can help strengthen your family’s bonds and provide you with important skills you need to overcome your addiction. To learn more about our family-based programs contact us today by calling (855)736-7262.