First Week Of Treatment

Addiction affects the entire family which means it’ll take the whole family to help recover.

Below are common ways to deal with your loved one entering treatment. By providing emotional support, family members can help those struggling with addiction to recover by encouraging the loved one to maintain sobriety.

Table of Contents

Your Loved One is Getting Needed Help

Most programs consider loved ones an integral part of the treatment plan and their support will be critical to your recovery.
To help your loved one adjust, visitors and any form of communication (email, phone calls, etc.) are typically not allowed for 3-7 days after arrival.

The Evaluation

First, your loved one needs to adjust to the routine of treatment life and feel better. Quite often it takes the first week to adapt to treatment life and be restored to primary health.
Second, your loved one will be going through a lot of assessments and evaluation sessions. These assessments take a lot of time. They are crucial to determining the best treatment.
Third, it takes time for your loved one to begin to trust their counselor and to open up.
Addiction treatment is a delicate process. It typically takes at least a week to establish a real pattern.

Visitation

Once the initial waiting period is over, most rehabs offer visitation hours. Visitors may have to be approved by a counselor and added to a visitors list in order to visit. Check your center’s policies to ensure your loved ones meet the necessary requirements for visitation.

Patient at Bupropion Addiction Treatment Center in FL

Your Loved One May Have Limited Communication

There are several ways to communicate with your loved ones while in rehab. It varies by program, but most centers allow phone and internet use (email) during designated times. You can also mail and receive letters.

Some facilities allow your loved ones to send care packages. However, they will likely be opened by staff beforehand for safety purposes. Check with your rehab’s administration to find out what items are prohibited in care packages.

Family Involvement

Family therapy may also be available. In most cases of addiction, your loved ones are affected by the disease, too. These sessions allow for recognition of everyone’s feelings and healing by all. If there are any questions that you feel need to be answered quickly regarding medications, legal matters, or even attending to matter while your loved one is away, contact the treatment center directly. They will guide you.

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Your Loved One’s Treatment Doesn’t End Here: Aftercare

It’s never too early to begin thinking about what happens after treatment. It often takes a team to determine what is truly best for your loved one’s long-term recovery. You should be a part of that team. There are many choices and some may be confusing to understand. The more you know the more you will be able to negotiate with your loved one and his/her counselor to create the strongest aftercare plan possible. In fact, nearly 80% maintain long-term sobriety after leaving treatment by creating and sticking to an aftercare treatment plan. You can find aftercare options here.

Lastly, breathe.

Your world may have been centered around your loved one’s addiction, which is common. The best way to help your loved one now is to find a balance. A balance between caring for your loved one without letting their addiction destroy you. It is not easy. There are self-help support groups available and there may be counseling support for you, too. See each task through one day at a time.

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Danesh Alam MD, DFAPA, DFASAM( Medical Reviewer )

Dr. Alam is an internationally renowned psychiatrist with academic affiliations with Northwestern University and University of Illinois, Chicago where he completed his residency training. He has been a principal investigator for over forty studies and has been involved in research leading to the approval of most psychiatric medications currently on the market. He is the founder of the Neuroscience Research Institute which continues to conduct research on cutting edge medication and interventional psychiatry. Dr. Alam is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Society of Addiction Medicine. He has won several awards and has been featured extensively on radio and television.