As the family member, parent, spouse, friend, or loved one of someone who was struggling with addiction, you’ve worked hard. It takes time, energy, resource, and commitment to help get a loved one to treatment. Now that they are safe and sound working on themselves, it’s time for you to support yourself as well.
- Addiction Can Make You Feel Crazy: You’re not crazy. Counseling and therapy isn’t for “crazy” people. It is for people whose life circumstances have brought them to feel a little out of sorts. Now that your loved one is in treatment you have an opportunity to heal yourself without having to focus on the unpredictability of their addiction. Counseling is a short term process which is goal oriented- like helping you return to center and cope with years of addiction in the family.
- It’s Going To Help: Unfortunately, a counselor isn’t going to be able to give you the answer to making your loved one stop using, or helping you find out how to make sure they don’t use again after treatment. The truth is, nobody will be able to do that for you or your loved one. What you can do is learn how to navigate the way you approach and support your loved one in order to create the healthiest and most productive environment for recovery.
- You Might Not Know Everything: People can be stubborn about seeking counseling during difficult times. What’s a counselor have to say that you don’t already know? Your loved one is addicted, maybe you didn’t do the best job, and now everyone has to figure out this whole “recovery” thing. The stories and realities we create in our minds are the truth to us, but might not be the best truth. A counselor can help you peel apart the layers and show you things you might not have seen before.
- Counselors Work With Your Schedule: Today, counseling is as easy as sending a text message or signing onto a chat-network like Skype. You can connect to a counselor anytime, anywhere.
- It Won’t Last Forever: Counseling is goal-oriented and designed to help you transition through a specific phase, like your loved one going into, and coming out of, treatment. Unless you discover underlying issues that need to be worked out in depth, a period of counseling will be short lived. They might suggest you find a qualified therapist who can diagnose any unforeseen issues and help you investigate deeper matters, should there be any.
Hired Power is here to bring recovery home and help the whole family move on from treatment. OUr recovery and sober services are designed to let everyone heal. Leave the details to us. For more information, call 1-800-910-9299.
