Written By: Dirk Eldredge, CIP, BRI I, CADAC – CEO, Alchemy Intervention
Time & action are the two greatest factor’s within the healing process.” After surrender occurs with the identified patient, the family must take action. Trust and closeness are found through the extension of grace and the methodical step by step re-establishment of the bond of trust between family members.
If you carry the belief, that “all things are possible” then even an addict presenting a history of chronic relapse, healing can occur.
Living for Today
Time is a continuum that we clearly have no control over. The family must find the ability to look down at their feet and live for this day. Looking at days gone by, can be very much counterproductive.
The daily choice to condemn and judge the addict can serve primarily as a detriment to any new beginning by bringing a dark cloud of despair into each day of new possibilities.
I would suggest that love is both patient and kind as well as hopeful and present. Addicts in early recovery must learn to trust in a higher power and in their own healing process. Their new way of thinking and behaving will be restorative and lasting only if it actually becomes part of their constitution.
One must always understand that the process of healing & trusting will be different for everyone around them. Each family member has a choice to become part of the solution or continue to be part of the dysfunction.
Cornerstones for Family Healing
Being a part of the solution for family members should include working their own program. ALANON or a related support group along with individualized professional counseling should be cornerstones within family healing.
Families engaged in the process of healthy healing understand that they cannot rescue or fix their addict.
Families need to understand the “Disease Model of Addiction” and how healing for the addict, is an inside job. Trust will be rebuilt at different times and in different ways with each family member. I see trust and healing occurring when all parities are fully engaged in their own process.
The opinions and views of our guest bloggers are shared to provide a broad perspective of addiction. These are not necessarily the views of Addiction Hope, but an effort to offer discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.