Admitting to yourself that your friend or a family member has an addiction is one of the most difficult actions you’ll ever have to do. When you see that your friend or family member is struggling with addiction, you might wonder if there’s any way you can help. Talking to someone about a substance abuse disorder is tricky. You may not want to upset or offend them, but you also need to get their attention and let them know you care. Fortunately, drug rehab in Long Island means that you don’t have to keep watching your loved one dealing with life-threatening addiction. A straightforward and honest conversation may help you promote rehab for friends and family members who are addicted to drugs or alcohol.
Table of Contents
- Ways to Talk to Your Friend or Family Member About Their Addiction
- What If My Friend or Family Member Refuses to Go to Rehab?
- How Long Island Treatment Center Can Help
- Why Rehab for Friends and Family Is the Best Solution for Addiction
- What To Expect When Friends or Family Start Rehab
- Help Your Friend or Family Member Today
Ways to Talk to Your Friend or Family Member About Their Addiction
If a family member or friend has a substance use disorder, you may be inclined to nag or preach. However, statements such as, “You should stop drinking!” or “You need to get this under control!” won’t do them any good. Addiction upends the brain’s ability to think logically. The only thing a person can think about is their craving for their substance of choice. If you want to promote rehab for friends or family members, try some of these methods instead.
Educate Yourself
Spend a few days learning about addiction and recovery. Up to 20% of Americans will deal with a substance use disorder in their lifetime, and 80% will never get the professional help they need. Learning about the treatment options, the consequences of addiction, and how addiction impacts your friend or family member’s job, health, and future are the first steps you can take to help them.
When your friend or family member is sober, have a one-on-one conversation with them. Let them know you know they have a substance use disorder. Tell them you think they need help. Don’t blindside them with a public intervention or embarrass them at work.
Choose the Right Place
Approach the topic of rehab for friends and family members in a private and comfortable setting. Avoid public places or anywhere that might trigger your friend’s cravings for alcohol. For example, parks and clubs are bad places to talk about addiction. The kitchen table is a better choice.
Allow Them to Choose the Time
Call or text your friend that you’d like to talk about something important, and ask them what time works for them. They’ll be more likely to show up to meet you.
Know What You Want to Say
The topic of drug rehab in Long Island can get emotionally charged in a hurry. Have a plan of what you want to say. You might want to broach the topic by sharing how their actions hurt you and why a center for drug rehab in Long Island could help them with their substance use disorder. Steer clear of accusations or place the blame on them. Remember that addiction is a mental health disorder, just like diabetes is an endocrine disorder.
Practice What to Say
It’s natural to feel nervous about this type of important conversation. Your tongue might get tied, and you might forget what you wanted to say. Practice in advance. Use a mirror. Practice with another friend or family member who also cares about the person with the substance abuse disorder. Consider preparing your own mental list of responses to your friend or family member’s reasons why they think they don’t need to go to rehab.
What If My Friend or Family Member Refuses to Go to Rehab?
You might need to have more than one conversation about addiction with your friend or family member. You may also wish to ask other people who are close to them to talk to them about their addiction, too. When a friend or family member refuses to go to drug rehab in Long Island, you may feel heartbroken. Keep in mind that New York does have laws that may require a person to enter rehab involuntarily. To be involuntarily sent to drug rehab in Long Island, your friend or family member would have to be an imminent threat to themselves or others. If your loved one has been charged with a crime related to their substance use disorder, such as robbery to secure money to pay for drugs, the court might order them to rehab instead of jail.
How Long Island Treatment Center Can Help
Addiction is a long-term mental health condition. Like other chronic diseases, including diabetes and heart disease, there’s no cure for it. However, addiction can be treated. At Long Island Treatment Center, we use evidence-based therapy and medicine along with other proven effective treatment methods. We believe that inpatient rehab for friends and family members is the best way for a person to recover from addiction. Our facility provides intensive inpatient treatment in a private and comfortable setting where your friend or family member can fully focus on recovery.
Why Rehab for Friends and Family Is the Best Solution for Addiction
Thinking about your friend or family member going into a center for drug rehab in Long Island might seem scary. However, it’s the best place for them to start their journey to recovery. Substance use disorders are medical conditions that need to be treated by medical professionals. You’d want your friend or family member to be seen by an oncologist if they had a cancer diagnosis, and you’d also want your family member or friend to be cared for by an experienced addiction medicine specialist when they have an addiction to drugs.
What To Expect When Friends or Family Start Rehab
When your friend or family member starts drug rehab in Long Island, you might wonder what will happen once they arrive, whether or not you will be involved in their healing and therapy and how you can support them. The process of rehab for friends and family is different for each patient. The first step is an assessment of their addiction, mental health, and overall health. Next, they begin the detox program. This leads to inpatient treatment and finally outpatient programs and aftercare.
Assessments
Many people with a substance abuse disorder have another mental health disorder, such as depression. Both of these conditions need to be treated at the same time if your friend or family member is going to have the best possible chance at recovery. We begin by assessing each patient’s duration, type, and severity of the addiction. Our healthcare professionals perform mental and physical health assessments and evaluations. These assessments allow us to create an individualized treatment plan for each patient.
Detox
The detoxification process involves getting all alcohol, drugs, and other toxins out of your loved one’s body. Many people experience withdrawal symptoms during this stage of treatment. It’s also when cravings for their substance of choice are the most intense. At Long Island Treatment Center, the detox process is medically supervised. We provide compassionate care throughout every minute of detoxification.
Inpatient Treatment
After detox, your friend or family member will begin inpatient treatment. This type of treatment has a structure focused on cognitive behavioral therapy. Your friend or family member will receive individual therapy and participate in group therapy. They will also learn coping skills for relapse prevention.
Therapy
During the inpatient treatment stage, each patient’s therapies will be aligned with their specific needs. The therapies we offer include
- Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
- Motivational enhancement therapy (MET)
- Psychodynamic therapy
- Trauma recovery therapy
- Holistic therapy
DBT
DBT is similar to cognitive behavioral therapy. It focuses on validating a person’s experience and feelings and finding what makes them vulnerable.
MET
MET works well for people with a concurrent mental health disorder. It shows people how to change negative thoughts into positive or healthy behaviors.
Psychodynamic Therapy
This therapy gets at the role a person’s subconscious plays in addiction.
Trauma Recovery Therapy
Unresolved trauma is often a trigger for addiction. Trauma recovery therapy helps people heal from trauma and develop healthy coping skills for dealing with stress.
Holistic Therapy
This is a type of alternative therapy. Exercise, yoga, and art are a few of the techniques we use in this process.
At Long Island Treatment Center, most patients use two or more types of these therapies. Finding the right type of therapy reduces a person’s risk of relapse and boosts their chance of recovery.
Outpatient Treatment
After your friend or family member completes inpatient drug rehab in Long Island, they continue to our outpatient programs. Our intensive outpatient services and partial hospitalization plans offer a helpful transition. They’re ideal for people with families and job obligations. In these programs, patients go home each evening.
We also offer less intensive outpatient treatment for addiction. This method is for people who have finished inpatient or intensive outpatient care.
Help Your Friend or Family Member Today
Mental health research shows that when a person with a substance use disorder enters rehab, they have the best possible chance at managing their addiction and living a sober life. When you want to see your friend or family member sober, you can help them by talking to them about drug rehab in Long Island. Our programs for rehab for friends or family provide the necessary support for recovery. For more information, contact us at Long Island Treatment Center today.