Knowing that your loved one may be coming home from rehab after many months of treatment, you may be filled with excitement, uncertainty, dread, and a bubbling excitement and exhilaration. How would it be now that they are back from treatment?
So after many months of having your loved one away from you while they’re healing, getting sober, and getting treatment in a rehab facility, they are now coming home.
Perhaps you are anticipating and wondering what changes you can find once they’re back home from a rehab facility such as those here in Manila or somewhere in the Philippines, like in Bridges of Hope where we have 7 centers all over the country.
Still, wherever they could be getting treatment, one thing is certain: you have be prepared for what is to come.
Welcoming a Loved One from Rehab
When a loved one goes to rehab, whether it’s from drug or alcohol abuse, you will soon find out that there will be a lot of changes that can happen. Those months away from your family, while it seems so long initially, will now feel like a short period of time.
Welcoming back a loved one coming home from rehab will now be wrought with many uncertainty. While it’s also a happy time of reconnection and hope for healing, there are still some challenges that you many need to overcome, changes you need to anticipate.
Here are some tips to help you prepare and cope when a loved one is coming home from rehab.
Have that Conversation
The best way to know what to expect when your loved one comes home from rehab is to have a clear and open communication. It’s important to have that honest conversation. Talk about feelings and expectations.
As a family member of someone who came home from rehab after years of active addiction and many broken or damaged relationships, having them come back needs preparation. This is to help you help them stay on track of their recovery plan and avoid relapses. This also helps ensure that their adjustment back into their real life is smooth. For you, this also help clear up any misconception or wrong assumptions.
Having an open and honest conversation also helps ensure that you are both on the same page and can help support each other. Furthermore, this also helps begin healing for all of you.
Set Clear Expectations
Before your loved went into rehab, you may have had a hard time with many troubles brought about as a direct or indirect result of their addiction. They may have broken your trust or have caused you pain and feelings of betrayal.
Now that they’re out of rehab, you may find yourself feeling uncertain, anxious, or even guarded. Despite the happiness and hope, these feelings may still persist.
It’s important to set boundaries on what behavior you will accept. Aside from ensuring that you will not be hurt or betrayed again, this can also help them in their recovery as they take on and apply the life skills they’ve learned while in rehab.
Allow Them Space
As their family member and primary source of support, you need to help them avoid relapse. At Bridges of Hope, we closely work with the family members to establish the do’s and don’ts of recovery and provide much-needed support from a co-dependent’s perspective.
Remember that you can’t control them. You can’t also change them, as you may now know. Only they can take responsibility for their actions, in the same way that you are taking responsibility for yours.
While you may need to monitor their recovery and how regularly they attend their aftercare meetings and follow-up with their facilitators, you can only provide them role-modelship. Demonstrate a healthy lifestyle for them to follow instead of imposing rules and being on them constantly.
Continue Your Own Healing
Living with someone with addiction can be beyond devastating. You yourself may be suffering from mental health issues or are at least feeling seriously worried and devastated from what you went through.
As a co-dependent, it may be easy for you to fall back into your role before when they were in active addiction. This is unhealthy and therefore, we advise you to embrace changes for yourself as well. Better ways to communicate and better coping strategies are a good start.
At Bridges of Hope, we work closely with family members to help them cope with the many changes and challenges of living with someone with addiction and now in recovery. Talk to us and we’ll help you and your addicted loved one navigate the path to hope and a better future.
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