Families are everything, as the quest for a family to help a loved one is everything — but more importantly, to stay with your loved one through their journey to reach recovery.
At Renown Behavioral Health, or partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs are day programs, which means patients go home at the end of the day, and there’s the family to greet them and help continue their treatment and recovery.
Families provide a loved one with a supportive and safe sanctuary. Family involvement provides encouragement, maybe offering a compassionate shoulder or just listening in the early stages. Families help alleviate feelings of loneliness.
Your loved one’s recovery is a chance for all members to learn healthier coping skills and communication. It’s very important that family members take care of themselves during this time; there are support groups that can help.I encourage family and friends to just start the conversation. There’s no perfect script or good way to have that conversation.
This is often a difficult topic to address, but you need to. And don’t postpone it. It’s important to have the conversation as soon as you can to help get your loved one the help, support, and treatment they need.
The language of the heart is heard above the spoken words. People in denial can’t always take in your words, but they know you’re there.
It’s more effective to talk about how this hurts you than how it hurts them. If you try to explain how their mental illness or addiction is hurting them, they probably won’t listen, because that is part of denial.
But if you explain how this hurts you, it’s more difficult to deny. Families can struggle with questions like “What did I do wrong?” or “Why don’t they just stop?” Recognize your own frustrations, and choose a time and place where you can be calm and offer solutions.
Mental illness and addiction are diseases of isolation, and the remedy is connection. Personal stories are the narratives that let us know that we are not alone; they comfort, inspire and teach as they offer hope.
Part of the hope is that these stories destigmatize these diseases, so more people will reach out and receive the help and support to recover. I hope even just one person hears this message today and reaches out for help, then they can reach another, and another, and so on.