I have heard so many people in drug rehab asking, almost rhetorically, who they can talk to when they leave. They’re not sure their friends will understand what they’ve been through and are ashamed to share it. They feel that they’ve put their family through too much to talk to them about their recovery process.
This is understandable. Many former addicts have faced resentment from people they have hurt, who don’t think they deserve their health. And those on the periphery often don’t have a clue what the big deal is, especially if they themselves drink or do recreational drugs.
So the question remains. Aside from other recovering addicts and professionals, who can I talk to about drug rehab?
Bringing People In Drug Rehab
One of the best ways to integrate your experiences in and out of rehab is to bring people into the process with you. Instead of recovering on your own, your family attends family therapy with you. You can take friends to meetings to see what it’s all about. You can share articles and blogs about addiction and recovery.
The challenge generally is not that they do not want to be a part of it. More likely, you’re wary of sharing so much with them. It is difficult to let friends and family see what you’ve gone through and hear about what you’ve done. It is sometimes even harder to give them articles to read which talk about people in your position, as you don’t want them to see you as the nameless, faceless subject of the piece.
But only if they have the right context will you feel comfortable talking about alcohol or drug rehab with them. They need the context to help them empathize with your process, seeing you with compassion.
It also helps if they understand how recovery works for you. Many people are used to finding “solutions” to problems, rather than just listening. They may think they need to do the same with recovery. However, if they understand what you’ve been working on in rehab, they’ll be able to provide support, rather than unsolicited advice.
Opening Up
Opening up is one of the most important skills you’ll learn in drug rehab. You need to learn to open up to yourself if you are to be successful at acknowledging your problem. However, the learning curve does not end in rehab.
Finding people to talk to about drug rehab is important for this reason. Trust in yourself and others will take a while to learn. Start talking about what you’ve gone through. Bring your loved ones into your process, and you’ll find that their support is exactly what you’ve been looking for.
