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5 Ways to Tackle a Family Member with Addiction

Nicholas Conn

Article By Nicholas Conn

Table Of Contents

5 Ways to Tackle a Family Member with Addiction
Is your family falling apart due to an addiction? Here are five methods for dealing with the upheaval. 
Addiction is a disease, which means it can strike anywhere and at any time. Yes, it is possible to have a predisposition for addictions. Children who grow up in households dealing with addicts are statistically likelier to have addictions themselves in later life. Similarly, social conditions could lead you to become an addict through little fault of your own.   If it happens to you and your family, though, knowing the statistics won’t help. Addiction is difficult to deal with. You don’t know whether to lend money when they ask for it, you don’t know if they are eating. In some cases, home life could be adversely affected through a parent addicted to drugs or alcohol. There are a thousand ways that alcoholism and drugs – even prescription drugs – can impact your family. Here are a few methods for tackling addiction within the family to help you make sense of this troubling time.

5 Methods for Tackling Addiction in the Family

Wondering what you can do to tackle addiction in your home and feel like you’ve already tried everything? Here are some techniques that might help you sort it out, once and for all.

1 - Calling for Help

You don’t need to do this on your own. The first thing you should do is get help for yourself. If your spouse, daughter, or son is suffering from addiction, you suffer the residual effects. You receive the abuse, the hatred, and the fear. They may steal from you or use you. It is important to remember that you don’t need to take this alone. There are several support groups for families of drug or alcohol addicted persons within the UK. Visit the MIND page and read about addiction and dependency support groups. You can also see the NHS website for support.

2 – Preparing Information

Before you decide to talk to your loved one about how their addiction is affecting you and your family, you ought to seek out relevant information. Read all you can about the substance or action they are addicted to. If it is a drug or alcohol addiction, there will be information on our pages. If you want to know more about rehab clinics to present them with viable treatment options, then we can help. Call the Help4Addiction team on 0203 955 7700 today to talk. We can give you information on local rehab clinics, explain the process of getting them into help, and offer support in times of need. 

3 – Just Talk

The next step is simple and incredibly difficult. Sit your loved one down and talk to them. Be careful with your word choices here. You don’t want it to sound like you are blaming them for the negative impact their actions are having on your family. Instead, focus on the changes in them from the person they used to be. Don’t try to guilt them into changing. Instead, say this is how you sued to be and this is how you are now. Next, point out that the changes have come because of their addiction. Highlight that you are concerned for them and that you would like them to stop using drugs or alcohol. 

4 – Stop Enabling Them

Your person should start to take your words into account. They may stop talking to you or lash out. Persevere and don’t back down. The best way to show how serious you are is to stop enabling them to use drugs or alcohol. This means not giving them cash or facilitating their drug use. It’s ok to cook for them, but it’s not ok to give them money for food. You can take care of them without helping their drug use.

5 – Stage the Intervention

If you stop enabling your loved one to use drugs or alcohol and you have spoken with them, yet they are still on a hard path, then it’s time to bring in the big guns. Contact the other people in their life. Each person that agrees to stage an intervention with, must be available to support your loved one through their recovery. This means phone calls, late nights, money for rehab clinics, and running them back forth to appointments. Call their doctors, their best friends, their other family members, and even their closes work colleagues. Gather everyone in one place and come up with a plan to supportively remind the person that all of you are worried. Present them with information about rehab and urge them to get help.  If the intervention doesn’t work, you can call us to discuss next steps. 

About Author

Nicholas Conn

Nicholas Conn

Nicholas Conn is a leading industry addiction expert who runs the UK’s largest addiction advisory service and is regularly featured in the national press, radio and TV. He is the founder and CEO of a drug and alcohol rehab center called Help4addiction, which was founded in 2015. He has been clean himself since 2009 and has worked in the Addiction and Rehab Industry for over a decade. Nick is dedicated to helping others recover and get treatment for drug and alcohol abuse. In 2013, he released a book ‘The Thin White’ line that is available on Amazon.

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