Is there anyone from your family or set of friends who are suffering from addiction? As someone who cares, what you will do is to help them get through the difficult times they are facing.
Karen Corcoran Walsh will also agree that there is no one better to help an addict than those who care about his/her welfare. True that the journey to becoming and staying sober is not easy, but with your help, things can be a bit easier and attainable for them.
Moving on, taking care of a loved one who is addicted to a substance, gambling, or something else, is not an easy task. It is a responsibility you need to do wholeheartedly and with passion and dedication.
If you are taking the challenger and you want to help your loved one in need, here are some of the things that can help you help a loved one who is suffering from addiction:
- Educate yourself
Educate yourself about addiction. Yes, you are not a pro, yes, you are not trained to help an addicted person to get sober, hence educating yourself is a good start. You can read books, research online or you can even seek professional help and advice.
To be able to help a victim of addiction, you need to be educated on how to properly help them. The situation, same as the personalities of people, differ hence handling one victim may be different from the other.
Getting an in-depth understanding of addiction is necessary if you want to truly help someone in need.
- Provide the support you can afford
You have to provide all the support you can afford, financial support for their treatment, emotional support as they go through the process of getting sober, and so on. You have to be strong as well to be able to help a person in need. Sure, you may not be capable of providing financial support, but needless to say, your presence and the emotional support you can give are more than enough to help them get through this tough time of their lives.
- Encourage professional help
Encourage them to seek professional help. It would be very hard for someone to accept that he cannot control himself anymore, but if you think that professional help is the only way they can get better, open their eyes and explain what good it can bring them if they seek help from someone who can truly help them get through their situation.
Let them know that getting professional help is not as shameful as they think. It is a way to make them get sober, so why not grab the opportunity, right?
- Introduce him or her to different activities
Invite them to go out and do activities they can enjoy. Introduce them to activities that you love to do, painting, hiking, biking, and so on. Sometimes, it is a simple change of environment can make a huge difference for someone in need.
