Addiction is a disease that doesn’t only affect the addict, but also everyone around them. Family and friends are inevitably shaken by their loved one’s addiction. In addiction treatment, the main focus in on getting the person off drugs or alcohol and onto the path of a clean and sober recovery. This provides less or almost no time for the person to think about anything or anyone else. What is important to note is that one of the biggest endeavours in recovery is winning back the trust of loved ones after the destruction your addiction caused. But how do you go about this?
Here are some guidelines on how to win back trust after addiction treatment:
1. Don’t Rush the Process
Being patient is a key part in healing the trust issues with your family and close friends.
Your addiction affected them badly and the quality of your relationship will not be restored overnight. The best thing that a person can do is to show that they are committed to their addiction treatment and willing to stay in a rehabilitative programme for as long as it takes.
Family and close friends might accuse you for things that go wrong when you’re back at home. This should not deter you from persevering to prove that you can be trusted again.
Work towards remaining sober and clean and begin to build a new lifestyle free of drugs and alcohol. Once your loved ones see the effort, commitment and time you have remained sober/clean, they will begin to trust you again. Don’t give up.
2. Enter a Family Treatment Programme
Family treatment programs play a major role in your path to recovery, as you could have broken down the trust of family members while in active addiction.
A rehabilitation programme gives you the chance to be completely honest and sincere with the people you love, while family members will also be given the same chance to express their feelings openly and truthfully.
This will give you, the recovering addict some painstaking information, but also the chance to see what your addictive behaviour has caused.
3. Be Mindful of What Your Family/Friends Went Through
Family will always want to help a loved one to recover from addiction.
However, the things you did while in active addiction are likely to have broken the trust you had with your family.
A good example would be the cost to maintain an addiction. Drugs and alcohol are expensive and when abused, can cause financial shortfalls. The addict will need to satisfy their craving and will go to any lengths to try and get hold of the substance.
This may lead to lying to family members for money or even stealing it from them. The addicted individual might not know at it the time, but this seriously hurts their loved ones.
It’s important for those recovering in rehab to note that family members need time to realise that you are getting help and that you will never act like you did again.
In this case, time is the healer trust will be built in stages.
The key to winning back trust after addiction treatment lies in being patient and not rushing the process; ensuring you enter a family treatment programme and being mindful of the effects your addiction had on the people close to you.