Talking to Family About the Treatment Process After You’re Home

When you or a loved one has made the decision to get help for addiction, it can be a bag of mixed feelings for the family. While everyone is, of course, overjoyed that the decision has been made to get help, the family needs time to recover from constantly walking on eggshells and everything else that comes with living with someone suffering from addiction. This makes talking to family about the treatment process after you’re home extremely important so that everyone feels comfortable, heard and part of the recovery process.

Manage Everyone’s Expectations

One important thing to do when talking to family about the treatment process after you’re home is making sure you manage everyone’s expectations – including your own. While everyone might be hopeful that a problem is being solved and negative behavioral patterns will finally change, it may not happen as quickly as everyone would like. That’s why it is called a recovery process. It takes a while to un-learn these behaviors, and the family should remember to start small.

A person recovering from addiction may feel pressure to “deliver” the new version of themselves very early on. Families will want to make sure to let their loved one work at their own pace and, as long as things are moving forward, stay positive. Putting pressure on a person recovering from addiction may cause stress, which could trigger a relapse.

Make Self-Care a Priority

It is very important to make sure the family knows that self-care needs to be a priority for not only the person in recovery, but the whole family as well. Making sure stress levels are kept to a minimum will help the entire family get along and work together. Self-care doesn’t necessarily mean spending time with each other – finding some alone time gardening, exercising, volunteering or watching a favorite movie at the end of the day can work just fine.

Keep Up With Family Therapy

When you start talking to family about the treatment process after you’re home, it is important to let the family know that everyone needs to keep up with a family therapy program. Adjusting to life after coming home from treatment can be overwhelming for many family members, so make sure everyone has an outlet to speak about this with therapy. This is especially important for children so that they do not repeat any of the same patterns that they may have inadvertently learned from their recovering parent.

In addition, addiction can cause a lot of damage to important relationships. It can even cause divorce or life-long rifts. If this has occurred, keeping up with therapy can help a family work through these issues and, hopefully, repair them.

Learn the Signs of Relapse

One of the most important parts of talking to family about the treatment process after you’re home is making sure they know the signs of a relapse. Many times, the person in recovery doesn’t realize they are heading down a path to relapse until it is too late. Luckily, there are many tell-tale signs that are easier to spot from the outside. This way, the family can help keep their loved one on the right path. Some of the signs of relapse include:

  • Attitude change. If you or your loved one has a sudden change in attitude, this could be a sign of relapse. Make sure self-care is made as a priority again and that aftercare meetings are attended. Check-in with a sponsor or other sober support to help step in on this early sign.
  • Increased stress. Stress can trigger negative thought patterns. People tend to do many things using stress as an excuse, such as eating poorly or abusing substances. Make sure stress levels are managed in a positive way, such as exercise, so that it doesn’t become too great.
  • Stopping aftercare plans. If aftercare doesn’t seem to be as much of a priority as it used to be and you or a loved one becomes too confident in their recovery, this is a sign of an impending relapse. Aftercare plans are created for a reason, so make sure it is being worked.
  • Loss of daily routine. People need structure in their lives, and if the person in recovery is abandoning their daily routine, this should be cause for concern. This is especially true if hygiene is being ignored and the person’s sleeping patterns have changed to sleeping in too much or staying up way too late.
  • Change in social circle. If you or your loved one is isolating themselves from the family again, especially in favor of new friends or friends who abuse drugs or alcohol, make sure you bring this up and step in as soon as possible.

About Pinelands Recovery Center

Addiction is a family disease, so talking to family about the treatment process after you’re home is absolutely vital. Make sure the family’s expectations are managed, that self-care is made a priority, therapy is attended and that the family is aware of the signs of a relapse. If everyone works together to support each other, the family will be able to overcome anything.

Pinelands Recovery Center of Medford is widely known as one of New Jersey’s finest, most respected addiction treatment facilities. With comfortable 30-bed accommodations and 24-hour professional staff, we can offer clients a serene, relaxing environment amid the lush piney woods. This stress-free setting with its sense of warmth and welcoming enables you to feel comfortable and confident about your clean and sober life ahead.

We will establish clear goals, both general in nature and specific to your needs. We continue to monitor those goals, to make sure that our clients are progressing and buying into their recovery plan. We thrive on assisting clients in feeling connected to the recovery community, share and demonstrate effective coping techniques, help clients to modify attitudes and patterns of behavior and everything else you will need to be happy and productive living a sober, healthy life.

We ensure that clients complete their planned concrete tasks, encourage hope, optimism and healthy living. Our recovery program is not a revolving door treatment program; it is a recovery model designed to help clients go on to lead productive, happy lives. For more information, visit pinelandsrecovery.com