Every parent wants to take the best care of their child as possible – and this, of course, extends to when they are grown up have become an adult. Despite trying your best, you can’t protect your child from everything in the world. Like all humans, they can make bad decisions outside of your field of vision, and then turn back to you for help. Unfortunately, sometimes parents have to be there to help their child fight an addiction.
Being there for someone who is fighting an addiction is tough, emotionally draining, and often lonely work. But they’re your kids and you’d do anything for them, so your instinct is to stick by their side despite hardships. This doesn’t mean you have to feel alone or depressed yourself. There are plenty of amazing resources to guide parents who are taking care of drug- or alcohol-addicted children. Below are five amazing resources to support parents in helping their child recover.
Parents Helping Their Children Through Addiction
1. Therapy
Therapy is important for anyone dealing with addiction, but it’s also important for you. Having a neutral third-party who enables you to deal with the emotional stress of supporting a drug-dependent child is extremely important.
If you talk out what’s bothering you in therapy, you deal with your problems constructively. Then you don’t risk negative reactions towards your child and you can be a better assistant in their recovery.
Your feelings are as valid as your child’s and going to therapy gives you an outlet that doesn’t hinder their progress in recovery.
2. Hotlines
Supporting someone with an addiction is a journey into the unknown. There is a lot of information out there about different drug withdrawal symptoms and recovery resources. This could feel overwhelming for someone looking to help their child.
Calling drug addiction recovery hotlines is a great place to get quick answers and resources to help your child. There are hotlines in most countries that run 24/7 and have high levels of knowledge on drug types, resources in the local area, and how you can get help as a supporter of someone with a drug addiction.
3. Journaling
Having a journal to track the progress of your son or daughter’s recovery is important for both you and them. The journey will be long, and it’s easy to get discouraged as the weeks start to blend together and no progress seems to be happening.
Keeping a progress journal helps fight this. It gives you and your child a place to record the events of the day, the activities you used to distract from drug cravings or withdrawal symptoms they had, etcetera.
It’s also a good way to mediate conflicts that might arise between you both. It can point out stressors and act as a prompt for you to discuss them openly and productively.
4. Recovery Programs
Even though you try your best at home to help your child, sometimes it’s not enough. It’s highly recommended that they also have a professional environment to get medical assistance and counseling to make the full transition into recovery. Helping your child find the right recovery program is an important part of empowering them to fight their addiction.
If helping them at home doesn’t seem to be enough, look for the 5 Signs Your Child May Need Rehab. If they display the behaviors listed, it’s likely that they will benefit from checking into a professional rehabilitation institution.
It’s important to remember that this does not indicate the failure on your part. This just means they need a program tailored to their problem, administered by trained medical personnel who have gone through years of education in order to properly treat those with addictions.
5. Parent Groups
Connecting with other parents in similar situations helps fight the loneliness of the situation you are in. You also gain an environment to bounce ideas around and get insight to supporting your son or daughter.
In the same sense, your child should be encouraged to join a drug recovery program to meet others recovering as well. This means they can find support and know they’re not alone.
Dealing with drug addiction is a serious circumstance for anyone to go through, but using these resources, parents can be armed with the proper knowledge to guide their child through this testing time.