Repairing the Damage

Escaping an addiction is a life-saving achievement, but it doesn’t mean everything is going to be restored right away. It can take a long time to repair the destruction caused by years of substance abuse, including rebuilding relationships. It may take some time to regain the trust and respect of people who have been hurt; there may even be relationships that are unsalvageable. Not everyone will be ready to forgive and forget. And while the threat of losing a relationship is a common reason why substance abusers finally get help for their addiction, just giving up alcohol or drugs alone may not be enough to repair the damage.

Setting Realistic Expectations

It is vital that people who are new to recovery have realistic expectations about their relationships. Years of hurt and disappointment cannot be put right overnight. The newly sober person has to work to regain any lost trust. The best way they can do this is by staying sober and building a good life in recovery. They need to accept that they have caused pain and be willing to give these people the space and time to heal.

Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation

Parents don’t know how to parent a young adult who is an alcoholic and/or drug addict. Period! What they do know, is that there comes a point when they reach outside of themselves, their family unit and ask for help. Usually, when everything they have tried to do to save their child from alcohol and drug addiction hasn’t worked. And, when they get to this point, we the addiction professionals can hear their emotional exhaustion and psychological desperation. But most importantly, we can hear the unconditional love that they have for their children. We can only hear it, if we are actually listening. And if we are listening; it is that love, that bond that we the professionals should be nurturing.

We should be utilizing every clinical skill we have attained to strengthen the individual and secure the foundation of their relationships, which are based on unconditional love.

Oftentimes, drug addicts are completely unaware of the devastation they are causing in the lives of those around them, especially within their own families. Family members themselves will yell, scream, withdraw, cajole, rant, criticize, understand, negotiate, get fed up and try any other number of ways to manage their loved ones’ addiction, to no avail.

As a result, the family becomes so intensely focused on trying to fix their loved one’s addiction that they have lost the ability to be themselves and to communicate honestly, while the addict just continues on, either not knowing or not caring how their family is dealing with their actions and behavior.

For any addiction treatment plan to be truly effective, it’s of vital importance for each alcoholic and addict to continue on the path toward long-term sobriety in the days, months and years after they have completed inpatient rehab treatment.

While many qualified addiction treatment centers offer sound after rehab programs, 12 Palms Recovery Center believes in implementing an after rehab treatment plan for its clients, for it's clients that also in many ways maps out how family members can assist their loved ones in their recovery as well.