Most of us know of someone with an addiction. Some of us have incredibly close relationships with these individuals, and it’s hard to see them struggle with substance abuse. Perhaps you’ve tried to confront your loved one many times, only to hear fake promises of treatment – and it hurts.
As a family member, you want to do everything you can to help your loved one get to where they need to be. But if you’re not careful, you may end up depleting all of your own time, energy, and money, while having your heart broken in the process.
Set Limits
Setting limits is very important when living with someone who has an addiction. By setting boundaries, you are protecting yourself and your well-being while also ensuring that your loved one isn’t receiving support for their addictive habits. A clear example of this could be no longer helping your friend or family member pay their bills so that they can use their money for substances. If they say they need money to pay their phone bill, offer to pay the phone company directly but refuse to give them any cash. If they say they need food, buy them groceries instead of giving them money.
This can be incredibly difficult to do, of course – but sometimes these natural consequences can help our loved ones seek treatment because they can more easily recognize how substance abuse is affecting their life.
Plan an Intervention
An intervention is another way to show addicts how their actions are affecting the people they care about. An intervention is a structured conversation between loved ones and an addict, often supervised by an intervention specialist. The goal is to help the person accept treatment and get into addiction recovery. Successful interventions also help an addict’s loved ones express their feelings constructively.
Gathering information, forming an intervention team, deciding on specific consequences, writing letters, and holding an intervention meeting can change a person’s course of action when it feels like they just haven’t taken enough steps towards seeking help.
Try to Understand
There are several reasons why your loved one may not wish to seek treatment, some of which can be difficult to accept.
- They don’t want everyone to know that “had to seek help” because of their addiction.
- They believe treatment is too expensive.
- They feel life is too hard being sober.
- They believe they don’t really have a problem.
- They haven’t hit rock bottom yet.
All we can do is try to support their recovery while also making sure that we’re not allowing these excuses to carry them through their addiction.
Let Us Help
If you’re ready to seek help for your loved one, speak with a professional from Avalon Malibu today.
Avalon Malibu is a world-renowned mental health and substance abuse recovery center. We offer effective research-based methods as well as alternative treatments that speak to the individual. To find out if Avalon Malibu is the best place for your loved one to conquer addiction and find peace with recovery, call us today at (844) 857-5992.
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