Witnessing someone you care about, deteriorate through substance abuse can be extremely challenging. You’ll almost feel like you’re enabling drug and alcohol consumption.
There are significant strains linked to this encounter, which can also impact your relationship, along with carrying the common negative associations of addiction.
Through watching the damaging impacts of drug and alcohol abuse, there’s a high probability that you’ll hope to disable their addictive behaviours, that you’ll hope to help your loved one, and that you’ll hope to increase the desirability of addiction recovery.
Yet, it’s also likely that you’ll understand that hope can be challenging to turn into action when aiming to help an addict in denial, when aiming to break a chronic addiction, or when aiming to even approach those fighting addiction.
This is a sensitive subject, where you’ll likely feel like you’re treading on eggshells. Yet, a careful response must be maintained when looking at ways to help support those, fighting addiction. You may currently feel helpless.
Yet, by boosting your awareness around addiction recovery, around the reality of helping your loved one through to the other side, and around what you can do to help, you’ll soon feel useful.
Here are some ways to help your loved one or friend through fighting addiction, compassionately, effectively and openly. If you require support with activating an intervention, we are here to guide you at Addiction Advocates.
The reality of helping someone fighting Addiction
Helping those, fighting addiction can feel exhausting, can feel dangerous, and can feel like a burden. It will all depend on your current relationship, on the severity of substance abuse, and on the part that you’ve played throughout the enablement of drug and alcohol abuse.
For some, the reality of helping an addict will be even more challenging, down to denial, down to broken relationships, or down to chronic psychological changes, linked to addiction.
For others, the reality may be easier, where addiction recovery support will be accepted down to pre-existing trust. This is exactly why you cannot set expectations around looking to help support those, fighting addiction, as your experience can deviate from the next relatives.
All in all, you should expect some form of difficulty. Whether that’s difficulty on a personal level when approaching your loved one, whether that’s the difficulty when aiming to promote addiction recovery, or whether that’s the difficulty of waiting for a loved one to accept help, obstacles will present themselves.
By building trust, by understanding addiction recovery yourself, by showcasing empathy, and by planning ahead, you can help someone fighting addiction see the necessity of rehabilitation.
Yet, by expecting immediate acceptance, by pressuring your loved one, or by lacking understanding of addiction recovery, you may jeopardise this opportunity to help.
Here are some ways to help support those, fighting addiction, without damaging your relationship, without enabling ongoing consumption, and without increasing the risk of intensified addictive behaviours.
Ways to help support those fighting Addiction
Currently, you may feel helpless. Yet, through the below pointers, you can soon become an instrumental part in helping support those, fighting addiction, whether it’s a family member, friend or work associate.
Disable access to drugs and alcohol
So far, you may have enabled excessive drug and alcohol abuse. This may have felt like the easiest way to keep peace within your household or relationship. Yet, this action has contributed to the now diagnosis of addiction.
With this in mind, you must aim to disable access to drugs and alcohol, by following a cruel to be kind approach.
Understand the expectations of fighting addiction
Addiction is a complex illness. Complexities are also expected when fighting addiction. By boosting your understanding of addiction recovery, you’ll learn how to promote greater acceptance. The way that you go about helping support those, fighting addiction can influence their response to accepting help.
Ooze compassion and understanding
Now isn’t the time to be disappointed or angry. Now is the time to ooze compassion and empathy, by supporting your loved one. You may feel differently towards substance abuse. Yet, those opinions will not help those fighting addiction.
Without understanding, you will struggle to build and maintain trust, which is very important. The greater trust will usually result in greater acceptance of addiction recovery services.
Promote clear communication
This is the time, to be honest with your loved one. Without honesty, you may hide your concerns, while reducing their desires, to be honest with you. Clear communication, sharing your intentions of offering support will result in a stronger relationship.
Consider an intervention
If you’re struggling to fulfil the ways to help support those, fighting addiction, alone, looking to host a professional intervention will be worthwhile. Many rehab clinics will guide you through this process, ensuring that you approach the idea of greater involvement with care.
Prepare the next steps of addiction recovery
It’s always wise to have professional steps of addiction recovery, prepared in advance. By this, doing your research around potential rehab clinics, working with them and ensuring that their support is accessible will be encouraged.
This is important, as fighting addiction must be completed rapidly. Once acceptance has been made, acting efficiently will benefit your attempt, along with kickstarting addiction recovery.
This is especially important when focusing on how to convince someone with an addiction that they need help or someone suffering from denial.
Fight addiction together with Addiction Advocates
Supporting an addict in recovery can be very tough. You’ll likely experience the whirlwind attached to fighting addiction.
Yet, by firstly following the above ways to help support those, fighting addiction, along with working with professionals, those challenges will soon reduce for all parties.
Fighting addiction, together with our team at Addiction Advocates is possible. We can help your loved one by providing a rehab admission, kickstarting the battle over addiction recovery.
You may currently feel worried about approaching addiction recovery. Yet, by increasing your awareness and by following supportive steps, you can help those, fighting addiction, overcome and recover from drug and alcohol abuse.
Do your bit by disabling the potential of long-term addiction.
