• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Online Therapy
  • Rehab
    • Alcohol Rehab
    • Drug Rehab
    • What Is Rehab?
    • What Happens In Rehab
    • How Long Does Rehab Take?
    • How Much Does Rehab Cost In The UK?
    • How To Choose A Rehab Centre
    • Rehab Through The 12 Steps Program
    • Does Rehab Work?
    • I Can’t Afford To Go To Rehab
    • Inpatient Rehab
    • Outpatient Treatment
    • Private Residential Rehab Clinics
    • Luxury Rehab
    • Private Health Insurance
    • Private Paying Patients
    • Rehab options for NHS Patients
    • Online Rehab
    • Professional Referrals
    • Can I do rehab at home?
    • Co-Occurring Disorders
  • Alcohol Addiction
    • Alcohol & Alcoholism
    • Alcohol Rehab
    • How to Detox From Alcohol Safely – The Alcohol Detox Process
    • Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms
    • How To Stop Drinking Alcohol
    • Private Alcohol Detox at Home
    • Alcohol Drinks Journal
    • Alcoholism, Addiction And Recovery
    • Alcohol Units Guide
    • Excessive Alcohol Intake -The Health Risks
    • Help For Alcohol Addiction
    • Sobriety Calculator
  • Addictions we help
    • Help For Alcohol Addiction
    • Addiction as a Symptom
    • Addicted to Drugs or Alcohol At Birth
    • Drug Addiction & Treatment
      • Drug Detox
      • Drug Withdrawal Symptoms
      • Drug Rehab
      • Dual Diagnosis With Addiction
      • Cocaine Addiction
      • Crack Addiction
      • Cannabis Addiction
      • Heroin Addiction
      • Prescription Drug Addiction
      • Amphetamine Addiction
      • Crystal Meth Addiction
      • GHB Addiction
      • Ketamine Addiction
      • Mephedrone Addiction
      • Steroid Addiction
      • Narcotics Addiction
      • Opioid Addiction
      • Drug Classifications
    • Addiction And Anxiety
    • Addiction And Depression
    • Gambling Addiction
      • Am I a Gambling Addict?
    • Sex Addiction
      • Porn Addiction
      • Am I A Sex Addict?
      • Sexual Behaviour
    • Binge Eating Disorder
      • Body Dysmorphia
      • Help for Bulimia
  • Detox
    • How to Detox From Alcohol Safely – The Alcohol Detox Process
    • Private Alcohol Detox at Home
    • Drug Detox
    • What Is A Detox?
    • What is Secondary Rehab treatment?
    • 7 Day Treatment & Detox
    • 14 Day Treatment & Detox
    • 28 Day Treatment & Detox
    • Inpatient VS Outpatient
  • Helping Others
    • Stage An Intervention?
    • Help For My Addicted Husband
    • Help For My Wife
    • Help For My Daughter
    • Help For My Son
    • Help for a Friend
    • Help my own addiction
    • Help For A Work Colleague
    • How Do You Help A Loved One Trapped In Addiction?
    • How to stop enabling a drug addicted child
  • Rehab Near Me
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab London
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Birmingham
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Bristol
    • Drug and Alcohol Rehab in Leeds
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab in Newcastle
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Hackney
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab in Liverpool and Merseyside
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Ipswich
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Leicester
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Luton
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Manchester
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Milton keynes
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Plymouth
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Preston
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Sheffield
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Somerset
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Southampton
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Suffolk
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Watford
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Wolverhampton
    • Drug & Alcohol Rehab York
  • Blog
Help 4 Addiction

Help 4 Addiction

Drug & Alcohol Rehabilitation

Call Us: 0203 955 7700

Get Rehab Prices Start Your Consultation
  • Online Therapy
  • Rehab
        • Alcohol Rehab
        • Drug Rehab
        • What Is Rehab?
        • What Happens In Rehab
        • How Much Does Rehab Cost In The UK?
        • Online Rehab
        • How Long Does Rehab Take?
        • How To Choose A Rehab Centre
        • Rehab Through The 12 Steps Program
        • Does Rehab Work?
        • I Can’t Afford To Go To Rehab
        • Inpatient Rehab
        • Outpatient Treatment
        • Private Residential Rehab Clinics
        • Luxury Rehab
        • Private Health Insurance
        • Private Paying Patients
        • Rehab options for NHS Patients
        • Can I do rehab at home?
        • Co-Occurring Disorders
        • Professional Referrals
  • Alcohol Addiction
        • Alcohol & Alcoholism
        • Alcohol Rehab
        • How to Detox From Alcohol Safely – The Alcohol Detox Process
        • Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms
        • How To Stop Drinking Alcohol
        • Private Alcohol Detox at Home
        • Alcohol Drinks Journal
        • Alcoholism, Addiction And Recovery
        • Alcohol Units Guide
        • Excessive Alcohol Intake -The Health Risks
        • Help For Alcohol Addiction
        • Sobriety Calculator
  • Addictions we help
        • Help For Alcohol Addiction
        • Addiction as a Symptom
        • Addicted to Drugs or Alcohol At Birth
        • Addiction And Depression
        • Addiction And Anxiety
        • Drug Addiction & Treatment
          • Drug Detox
          • Drug Withdrawal Symptoms
          • Drug Rehab
          • Dual Diagnosis With Addiction
          • Cocaine Addiction
          • Crack Addiction
          • Cannabis Addiction
          • Heroin Addiction
          • Prescription Drug Addiction
          • Amphetamine Addiction
          • Crystal Meth Addiction
          • GHB Addiction
          • Ketamine Addiction
          • Mephedrone Addiction
          • Steroid Addiction
          • Narcotics Addiction
          • Opioid Addiction
          • Drug Classifications
        • Gambling Addiction
          • Am I a Gambling Addict?
        • Sex Addiction
          • Porn Addiction
          • Am I A Sex Addict?
          • Sexual Behaviour
        • Binge Eating Disorder
          • Body Dysmorphia
          • Help for Bulimia
  • Detox
        • How to Detox From Alcohol Safely – The Alcohol Detox Process
        • Private Alcohol Detox at Home
        • Drug Detox
        • What Is A Detox?
        • What is Secondary Rehab treatment?
        • 7 Day Treatment & Detox
        • 14 Day Treatment & Detox
        • 28 Day Treatment & Detox
        • Inpatient VS Outpatient
  • Helping Others
        • Stage An Intervention?
        • Help For My Addicted Husband
        • Help For My Wife
        • Help For My Daughter
        • Help For My Son
        • Help for a Friend
        • Help my own addiction
        • Help For A Work Colleague
        • How Do You Help A Loved One Trapped In Addiction?
        • How to stop enabling a drug addicted child
  • Rehab Near Me
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab London
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Birmingham
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Bristol
        • Drug and Alcohol Rehab in Leeds
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab in Newcastle
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Hackney
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab in Liverpool and Merseyside
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Ipswich
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Leicester
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Luton
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Manchester
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Milton keynes
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Plymouth
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Preston
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Sheffield
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Somerset
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Southampton
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Suffolk
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Watford
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab Wolverhampton
        • Drug & Alcohol Rehab York
  • Blog

Support For You When A Loved One Goes Into Rehab

12th October 2018 by Nick Conn

It is never easy for you to see someone you love go through an addiction or mental health illness. When they do go into rehab, it can be just as difficult for you. Find out the coping mechanisms you can take to support yourself, when a loved one enters into rehabilitation.

Entering rehab is seldom an easy process. For most addicts or alcoholics, getting into treatment comes at the end of a long and painful struggle with his or her addiction. Often there are mixed feelings from the addict. Do they really want to clean up and face a life without the prop of alcohol and drugs? Often the addict or alcoholic not only faces sobriety, but is accompanied by all the chaotic consequences of using – debt, job loss, health issues – to name but three.

Rehab can be bewildering. Most treatment centres offer in-patient treatment and usually recommend a minimum 28-day stay. There is usually a thorough admission procedure, where the patient can be monitored for withdrawal effects, and if necessary, receive medical attention.

It is common for personal effects to be removed and stored and all mobile phones and laptops taken away. Rehab is an intense process. Most centres believe it is vital for the addict or alcoholic to have no distractions from the serious business of his or her recovery.

What you need to do when a loved one goes into rehab

While the addict or an alcoholic embarks on a structured programme of rehabilitation, and is removed completely from their everyday life, family members and friends seem to have to “just get on with it”. As it is common practice not to make contact with the outside world, the patient’s family can often feel isolated or shut out.

Family members in particular are left dealing with the chaos an addict or alcoholic often leaves behind – bills left unpaid, jobs and contracts left unfulfilled, children, relatives and friends asking awkward questions. This can be an overwhelming experience for the family member. And family members of addicts or alcoholics are often already at breaking point.

For friends, there can be a similar array of difficult feelings. Many friends or colleagues of addicts and alcoholics feel displaced when their friend enters rehab. They may have spent months or years encouraging, cajoling, running around trying to find cures, alternative therapies, anything to help their friend. Sometimes they’ve lent money or lied or covered up and made excuses. Now it might seem that their job has gone and their friend removed.

This is a crucial time for the friend or family member. While all the attention seems to be turned towards the addict or alcoholic entering a treatment programme, it is vital that families and friends find their own support.

“It was such a relief when he finally went in,” says Catherine, from London, a professional in her mid-thirties with two primary school aged children. “I’d spent almost a decade begging him to get help. But when his company offered an immediate admission to treatment, I felt devastated. I had to carry on with work, with the children, and I had no idea what he was up to.”

Most treatment facilities liaise with family members and close friends when a patient is admitted. Making contact with the treatment centre and asking for information can be a very important step for the family and friends to feel included. Admissions team should give an overview of what the patient will be doing for the first few days, and let families know when they can expect to hear from their loved one. They should also give details of or an invitation to the first family support group or meeting.

All good treatment facilities should offer family support groups, open to family members and also friends and colleagues. These can be a lifeline for relatives, who are often bewildered as to how they should be supporting their spouse or friend, as they embark on recovery.

“It was great to have some first-hand information on what to do and what not to do,” says Catherine “but it was especially helpful to hear from other partners and families. No one talks about the huge mix of feelings family members have when a loved one enters rehab.”

She goes on: “I had so much anger towards my husband for all his years of drinking, for all the chaos I had lived with. I even resented him going into treatment,” she says. “I was struggling with the children, the house and the bills and he was suddenly whisked off and all the attention was focused on him.”

Catherine’s feelings are far from unusual. Many family members harbour anger and resentment towards the addict. Family support groups in treatment centres provide a safe forum for these thoughts and feelings to be shared and to be reflected back by other families struggling with the same issues.

Most treatment centres actively encourage friends and family members to go to their own 12-step support groups, such as Al-Anon, or other support services, such as Adfam. These groups not only offer support and identification, but encourage loved ones to adopt a whole new way of living around their newly sober alcoholic or addict.

“I had heard about ‘detaching’ and ‘letting go’ so often before,” says Catherine, “but I had no idea what it really meant. Al-Anon really taught me to keep the focus on myself and not keep obsessing about my partner’s drinking or about his recovery.”

Here are some tips for family members and friends when a loved one enters rehab:

  1. Breathe a sigh of relief – know that your partner, relative or friend is in a safe, specialist environment, where he or she really has the chance to get clean and stay clean.
  2. Engage with the treatment facility – what sort of contact can you expect and when.
  3. Ask what sort of family support programmes the treatment centre offers – when can you go to the first group.
  4. Build your own support network – Al-Anon, Adfam, as well as trusted friends and colleagues.
  5. Be patient with yourself and your feelings – relief and hope are often mixed with anger and resentment.
  6. Encourage the recovering addict or alcoholic to work their own 12-step recovery programme, then step back. We are powerless over another’s recovery, just as we are powerless over another’s addiction or alcoholism.

 

Filed Under: Latest News

Sharing is Caring

Primary Sidebar

  • FREE CALLBACK SERVICE

    We offer a free
    callback service 24/7

    Simply enter your number below
    and our addiction counsellors will call
    you back in a few minutes.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Related Articles

Addictive Behaviours and You

27th February 2020 By Dipesh

Tips for Overcoming Feelings of Powerlessness In Addiction

17th January 2020 By Dipesh

sex-addiction-cover

Self-Care for Spouses: Dealing with Addiction

20th November 2019 By Dipesh Leave a Comment

Naloxone

Naloxone for Opioid Addiction – Is it worth it?

15th November 2019 By Dipesh

Coping Tactics when Recovering from Drug and Alcohol Addiction

5th November 2019 By Dipesh

Tags

Birmingham Brighton Bromley Bushey Cambridge Cheshire Congleton Devon - Cullompton Devon - Paignton Devon - Plymouth Essex - Brentwood Essex - Romford Hemel Hempstead Hertford Hoddesdon Hove Kent - Goudhurst Kent - Tunbridge Wells Leicestershire London - Finsbury Circus London-Maida Vale London - Paddington Radlett rehab Sheffield Skype Staffordshire Staffordshire Moorlands Stoke On Trent Surrey - Farnham Surrey - Fetcham Wakefield Wales - Neath Wales - Swansea Watford Worcester

We work with all the major insurers

Footer

Get Help Now

  • Phone 0203 955 7700 or enter your phone number and get a call back.

    FREE CALL BACK SERVICE 24/7

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

About Us

Our experienced team at Help4addiction are always on hand to offer you the most personal and cost effective options available for Alcohol and Drug addiction treatment

0203 955 7700
support@help4addiction.co.uk

Additional Links

  • Private Residential Rehab Clinics
  • Alcohol Addiction
  • Alcohol Rehab & Addiction Treatment
  • Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms
  • Online Therapy
  • Detox from Home

Get Help Now

  • Phone 0203 955 7700 or enter your phone number and get a call back.

    FREE CALL BACK SERVICE 24/7

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Help 4 Addiction, The Pharmacy,
Battlers Green Farm,
Common Lane, Radlett,
Hertfordshire, WD7 7PH

© 2021 Help 4 Addiction. All Rights Reserved.

  • Privacy
  • Terms & Conditions
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT