Contributed by Life Healing Center clinical team member Kathryn Taylor, MA, LPC/MHSP.
Some people mistakenly assume that an addicted individual must lose everything of value before gaining the stamina to climb out of a life of addiction.
In reality, addiction can be treated at any stage. Often, however, addiction develops so quickly that by the time recovery is pursued, significant damage has been done in many areas of life.
True recovery requires cleaning up each of these areas. Good guidance can help the individual to build the skills to do just that.
Re-establishing Relationships After Ceasing Addiction
When active addiction takes over, individuals often say and do things to family and friends that they would not have done under other circumstances. Addicted individuals often struggle with what that they said or did during active addiction. One part of recovery is reconnecting with loved ones and re-establishing relationships.
An important step to re-establishing necessary and loving relationships is to open up some honest and sincere communication pathways. It is critical to discuss what the new expectations will be in the relationship. Calmly discussing what the relationship roles will demand ensures that you will not get treated like an addict forever, and that the ones that you want to demonstrate your love for will have reasonable expectations of your future behavior.
Clearly, taking communication from tense and strained to calm and open is not a step that will happen automatically. Counseling might even be needed to help each party to understand the other. Also, there are resources that are online to turn to that have helped countless families and friends work through the complicated issues associated with the relationship aspect of addiction recovery.
Helpful Online Resources:
http://www.unicef.org/cwc/
This well-known nonprofit organization provides a handy guide to communicating and connecting with children of all ages.
www.al-anon.org
A collection of family groups that support family members of problematic alcohol users.
http://www.voa.org/substance-abuse
A volunteer organization that can help arrange for effective family and personal therapy.
Finding A Job After Addiction
Staying without work after addiction can be dangerous, both financially and physically. However, finding steady work in the job market can be daunting. Many online search sites are available to post resumes and job offers.
The resources listed below are examples of websites that are specifically dedicated to help people in recovery, such as recovered addicts, find work that suits such special circumstances:
https://www.ssa.gov/work/overview.html
A government program that helps those with mental disabilities find and maintain employment.
Youth second-chance programs designed to help at-risk youth find gainful employment.
Finding An Apartment After Stopping Addiction
Associations and your living environment all play a factor in your ability to stay sober after addiction rehabilitation. Finding housing that is affordable and safe is crucial to your further progress.
Even the worst of situations can be helped with aid, such as through this government website that assists homeless persons in finding shelter:
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUDrc=/program_offices/comm_planning/homeless/programs/shp
Government-Related Groups That Understand The Effects of Addiction
- National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism: www.niaaa.nih.gov
- National Institute of Drug Abuse: www.drugabuse.gov/
- Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration: www.samhsa.gov
- National Institute of Mental Health: www.nimh.nih.gov
When In-Person Support May Be Best For Rebuilding Life After Addiction
The following website is an online portal for narcotics anonymous meetings and a chatroom that is accessible from a mobile device:
www.nachatroom.net/
Many have found social networking to be a desirable way of establishing drug-free lifestyle support. However, experts give some warnings about social media use that indicate that if it is not controlled well, a social media user might inadvertently be hindering progress in developing a drug-free lifestyle. [1]
For example:
- Having many friends on social media sites can make the site stressful to use.
- Social networking can cause a person to waste time that could be spent on productive or more refreshing activities.
- Addiction to social networking reduces your educational and professional capabilities.
- Prospective employers might decline you if they see profanity or sexual content on your social media page.
- Social networking use is connected to ADHD, other mental health issues and an inability to have in-person conversations.
Keep In Mind
There are many resources available online to stimulate healthy face-to-face interaction in life after addiction. While online resources are a wonderful start, consider using them to supplement quality in-person connections. With effective substance use treatment, many people are able to find greater connection to community, wellness and themselves.
References:
[1]: Social Networking ProCon.org. “Are Social Networking Sites Good for Our Society?” http://socialnetworking.procon.org/
About the author:
“Which Online Resources Are Valuable For Rebuilding Life After Addiction?” was written by Life Healing Center (Santa Fe, New Mexico) clinical team member Kathryn Taylor, MA, LPC/MHSP. Kathryn is a licensed mental health counselor and has several years of experience working in dual diagnosis addiction treatment, women’s issues and trauma treatment.
About Life Healing Center:
Located in the Sangre de Cristo foothills overlooking beautiful Santa Fe, New Mexico, Life Healing Center is a place of personal transformation for adults aged 18 and above who are struggling with trauma, chemical dependency, intimacy disorders, and co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Treatment at Life Healing Center is a holistic experience in which time-tested techniques and emerging therapeutic methodologies are combined into a clinically sophisticated approach that addresses each patient’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. Care is provided by a board-certified psychiatrist, master’s level therapists, licensed drug and alcohol counselors, certified sex addiction therapists, nurses, clinical technicians, and contracted ancillary service providers.
The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of addictions. These are not necessarily the views of Addiction Hope, but an effort to offer a discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.
We at Addiction Hope understand that addictions result from multiple physical, emotional, environmental, and genetic factors. If you or a loved one are suffering from an addiction, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.
Published on July 26, 2016
Reviewed and Updated by Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on January 6, 2021
Published on AddictionHope.com