If you have a friend, family member, or loved one struggling with substance abuse and addiction, you may be looking for ways to help someone with an addiction. Helping someone with an addiction is a valiant effort, but it is a more difficult decision than you may realize. You must understand both the importance of your assistance and its weight. When you are ready to learn how to help someone with addiction, reach out to A Better State online, or call us at 781.412.1488 today to learn how our addiction treatment program can be a part of your plan.
What Is Addiction?
Before helping someone with addiction, you must understand that addiction is a chronic medical disease involving brain circuitry, genetics, an individual’s environment, and life experiences. Most importantly, addiction is treatable. Your friend or loved one battling an addiction to drugs or alcohol is using these substances and potentially engaging in risky behaviors because, in part, they have become compulsive despite the harmful consequences. Thankfully, there are professional treatment programs available at A Better State, and there are ways to help someone with an addiction.
How to Help Someone with Addiction
When it comes to helping someone with addiction, there are many things you can and should do and several tips for what to avoid to help them get clean, seek help, mend relationships, and heal their body and mind. Here are five ways you can help someone with addiction today.
1. Get Educated About Addiction
Knowledge is power. To start helping someone with addiction, seek our clinical, proven, and research information about addiction, in general, and your loved one’s specific addiction and disease process. The more you can educate yourself about the harmful substances, their symptoms, and their impact on your loved one and their life, the better equipped you will be to be a valuable ally, supportive partner, and friend who ushers them through this challenging period of their life.
2. Take Care of Yourself and Seek Out Your Support
When it comes to how to help someone with addiction, it may surprise you to learn that taking care of yourself is one of the most critical pieces of the puzzle. Helping someone with an addiction can take a great toll on your physical, emotional, and mental state and your family life, work, and other commitments and responsibilities. Just as flight attendants instruct during the pre-flight safety briefing, put your oxygen mask on before helping others with theirs; you have to be in a solid, good place to be of use and help your loved one suffering from an addiction. There are support groups that can help you learn how to cope, provide information and additional resources, and help the addict in your life, including:
3. Suggest Professional Help
A Better State’s Addiction Treatment Program can help you help your friend or family member battle, overcome, and recover from their addiction. Thanks to a holistic, individualized approach to substance abuse treatment, therapy, and care, you can rest assured that your loved one will be provided every opportunity to get clean and learn to stay clean. One of the ways to help someone with an addiction is to suggest and point them in the direction of skilled, compassionate medical professionals in a safe, comfortable facility.
4. Don’t Be An Enabler
It is common for family members and friends to enable an addicted person without realizing it. It could be difficult not to rescue the addict in your life but how to help someone with an addiction is to let them experience the consequences of their addiction. In many cases, an individual needs to hit bottom before they decide to quit, get help, and work toward recovery for themselves. You can help by not financially supporting your loved one or their addiction. This means that you do not:
- Buy their groceries
- Give them cash
- Offer financial help to pay court fines or attorneys
- Pay their rent
Being an enabler will only prolong their disease, allow them to continue avoiding consequences, and therefore, not yet see the pressing need to seek professional help.
5. Set Realistic Expectations
While you need to hold them accountable for their actions, take care of yourself, and point toward A Better State to receive professional treatment and care, you also need realistic expectations when helping someone with an addiction. This means that you shouldn’t expect addicts to keep all of their promises because they will not be able to while battling their disease. At the same time, try not to pity or get angry. Setting realistic expectations will help keep your emotions in check and allow you to focus on your well-being while helping someone with an addiction.
Learn More at A Better State
It is vital to remember that you are not alone in this. There are ways to help someone with addiction without being pulled into their despair or damaging your well-being and stable life. Get the resources and support you need today by contacting us confidentially using our secure online form or calling us at 781.412.1488.
