Engaging family in your treatment journey can be extremely beneficial. You may have involved them in your recovery in a structured way through family therapy or family day at your treatment center. When you leave treatment, how can you continue to engage with your family?
This is not always an easy task. When factors of the outside world come into play, it can be easy to stray away from engaging with your family. There are also more opportunities for mistakes to be made, which may increase the potential of hiding aspects of your recovery from your family. If being in contact with your family is safe and healthy for you, keeping open communication with them is very important. It is especially important to reach out to them if you are experiencing obstacles or discouragement in recovery and need support.
Benefits of Family Engagement
There are many ways your family can contribute to your recovery success. If your family is supportive of your recovery, family involvement can be immensely beneficial.
Strengthened Support System
One of the key benefits of engaging your family in your recovery journey is their support. If you are hiding aspects of recovery and failing to communicate honestly with them, they may be less willing to support you in your journey. By engaging your family in your recovery, you can establish a strong support system at home. Knowing that your family is by your side and there to support you can keep you motivated through the obstacles to come.
Truthful Environment
While engaging your family in treatment may seem overwhelming, it helps sustain a truthful home environment. One of the most negative impacts that substance use disorder has on the family unit is the potential deceiving involved. If you are consistently hiding behaviors from your family or lacking transparency regarding your recovery, there is always a level of uncertainty in the household. Ensuring you are being honest with your family and keeping them updated will help them feel included. These feelings of inclusiveness can promote a stronger family unit.
Tips for Managing the Family Unit
The best thing you can do to manage a healthy family unit while keeping your main focus on recovery is to communicate with your family. These priorities may overlap, as your family often benefits when you invest in recovery, and your recovery often benefits when you invest in your family.
Telling your family what your goals are and following up with them on your progress can help you establish open communication with them. It is important to feel comfortable and maintain honest engagements with your family members.
#1 Communicate Openly
Honest communicating is essential in maintaining a healthy family unit. While you have gained various communication skills through treatment, it is important to incorporate those skills into external conversations. When difficult topics arise in conversation with your family, it is essential to regulate your emotions. Use the skills you have gained to comfort your family and create a safe environment in your own home.
#2 Be a Role Model
Being a role model is especially important if you have children. Think of the individuals in your life and who you want the best for. Work to be your best self, being a role model to them. If your children watch you go through the cycle of addiction and see you in recovery, show them how maintaining sobriety is possible. If you fail to communicate your recovery process with your family and continue to engage in risky behaviors, it can reinforce the idea that substance abuse is okay.
If you are clear about the hardships of substance use disorder and the possibility of recovery, your children or younger family members can benefit from your experience. It is much easier to understand the impacts of recovery when they are shown and communicated. You may need to make reparations for your past behaviors with your family and explain how these behaviors negatively affected you.
#3 Acknowledge Their Emotions
The process of recovery affects not only you but your family as well. Acknowledging the feelings and emotions of your family members through this journey is very important. Being approachable and understanding the emotions of your family members can relieve stress from everyone in the family unit. Just as you have to allow yourself to feel emotions, you have to accept the emotions of your family members as well. The recovery journey can bring about many negative emotions. Fortunately, difficult emotions can be managed with acceptance, support, and communication.
Utilizing these strategies can help you ensure that you and your family feel safe and comfortable through this journey. Communication with your family may not always be perfect, but communication is the key to a strong family unit. Allow them to overcome these obstacles with you and support you through your journey. Being there as a support for them as well creates a mutual sense of stability for your family.
Communication is often a skill that is forgotten or neglected after treatment. While communication skills are important during the treatment stage, they are essential to implement into your life outside of treatment as well. When it comes to maintaining a healthy family structure, communication is vital. Adapt your skills and implement them to secure a healthy family structure. If your family is supportive, keeping them involved in your recovery journey can provide you with encouragement and motivation. Learn more about the benefits of family involvement in your recovery journey and how to maintain a level of open communication with your family moving forward. Reach out to Dream Recovery at (949) 732-1960.
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