When you have a loved one or family memeber in a drug an alcohol rehab program, what is your role?   How can you best assist them to achieve their goals in  sobriety and life?  First and foremost I think it is important to remember the ultimate goal of going to rehab.  Secondly it is very important not to get involved in any internal workings of the rehab center for the outside.

The most important goal of a drug and alcohol rehab center is to teach a client the skills neccessary to cope with life without resorting to the use of drugs or alcohol.  They have to learn and practise the skills before they leave.  If everything at a center is perfect and non stessful they will never get the chance to practise anything.  If you as a family member phone a center and "complain" about something, you are denying your family member the opportunity to learn to handle things in a safe enviroment. 

For example let take the food served.  Your son or daughter phones you to complain it is not varied enough, or not exactly to their liking.  The first response before saying anything should be to ask the question of priorties.  Does this situation ultimately have anything to do with getting sober?  Will it make the difference between success or failure?  Is this something he or she will have to learn with in normal day to day life?

The answer is clear here.  Food needs to be of a certain basic quality of health and nutrition.  Once that level is acheived there is no extra impact on sobriety.  Also there will be days in this person's life down the road where they will be in a situation where the food is not up to their expectation.  The need to develop the skills neccessary to handle this without resorting to drug and alcohol use. 

Support their stay, but stay out of the details.  If you get involved and add to the drama, you are not helpiing them.  Let them learn and grow.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 at 8:02 am and is filed under Drug Rehab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.