It’s hard to watch a loved one who is struggling with addiction, but support can be challenging, too. It’s important to support and help without enabling them, but how do you do that? There are a few things that can be done to help support them as they work on recovering from the addiction.
Talk to Them About the Addiction
Take the time to sit down and talk to them about the addiction, how it is impacting everyone they love, and the impact it’s having on their own life. It is important to avoid threatening or punishing, blaming yourself, or taking reactions personally. If they are open to discussing the addiction and considering alcohol rehab to get help, talk to them about the options and what they can do to take the next step. Be encouraging during this step, but avoid preaching or trying to bribe them into getting help.
Look for Activities that Don’t Involve Drinking
When there’s time to do something fun, it’s a good idea to choose activities that don’t involve alcohol. Avoid going places where alcohol is commonly served, as that increases their chance of having a drink or two while they’re out and going through a relapse. By trying out new activities that don’t involve alcohol, it’s easier to create new habits that don’t center around drinking and that are healthier for them.
Avoid Enabling Them
The drinking can start to have a serious impact on the person’s life, but it’s important to avoid enabling them by shielding them from the consequences of their behavior. If they lose their job because of drinking, it is okay to help them with necessities like shelter and food, but don’t provide everything for them and let them see the impact drinking is having on their life.
Help Them Find Healthier Options
It is crucial to find healthier options for handling stress to prevent relapses, but this can be challenging to do. Help them learn about more ways to manage stress that are healthier than drinking so they know what options they have. When things are stressful, having a few different options to handle it besides drinking can help them avoid picking up the bottle or running to the store to get something to drink.
Learn to Handle a Relapse With Them
Relapses are common and will happen to just about everyone. The key is in what happens next. Often, those who relapse will continue drinking because of the pain of failing their recovery. It doesn’t have to be like this, though., When a relapse does happen, take the time to talk with them, to see how it can be handled, what went wrong, and what can be done better next time. Provide them with assistance and support and encourage them to take a step back, reassess, and continue working on their recovery.
It’s hard to watch a loved one suffering from alcohol addiction. However, there are ways to help and to encourage them to seek professional assistance so they can start working on their recovery. Talk to a professional today to get more information about the assistance available to them or for resources on how to encourage them to take that first step and start working on recovering from the addiction.