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Friends & Family Need Help Dealing With a Loved One's Addiction
Article written by Faith Sheehan, LCSW, CCS, outpatient clinical supervisor at Crossroads for Women, for the Fall 2006 Maine Women's Journal
Anger. Sadness. Fear. Confusion. It is normal to feel a range of emotions when living with a person struggling with addiction.
A loved one’s alcohol or drug problem affects everyone close, including spouses, partners, children, extended family, friends and co-workers. Friends or family members may be caught up in covering up for the loved one, in patterns of denial or just trying to figure out how to find help.
People often wonder if the support that they have to give is helpful or harmful. They struggle to balance the realities of life, such as employment, finances and childcare, with the realities of being in a relationship with someone who is active in their addiction.
Chemical dependency is an illness that strikes people of all income levels, races, ages and genders and can be a terrifying, destructive, progressive illness. The friends and family are deeply affected. As the person’s life becomes more and more out of control, the bills still need to be paid, the kids still need to be fed and life has to go on. It is often friends and/or family members that scramble to pick up the pieces.
When friends and family members get together, understand and address the impact they experience in the situation, they increase their ability to gather a much-needed social support system. And that not only helps the person using substances, but also the whole system of friends and family that remain in the background unsure of how to cope.
Crossroads for Women offers a 5-week “Friends & Family" educational series to anyone who has a loved one, male or female, with a substance abuse problem that may or may not be in treatment at the time. “Friends & Family" explores the basics of addiction, the recovery process and how to be supportive of the loved one while also taking care of you. The 5-week series is held on Tuesday evenings from 6:00pm – 7:30pm. It is a positive, supportive experience in a comfortable and relaxed environment. The classes are held at Crossroads for Women’s outpatient office on 66 Pearl Street, Suite 202.
It is with classes likes these that friends and family can learn how to handle living with a loved one who is chemically dependent and how to be supportive of the recovery process.
For more information on dealing with a loved one’s addiction or to register for the next “Friends & Family" series, call Crossroads for Women at 207-773-9931.
Faith Sheehan, LCSW, CCS is the outpatient clinical supervisor at Portland-based Crossroads for Women. In addition to running the “Friends & Family" educational series, Sheehan provides individual and group counseling to women with substance abuse problems and affected others. Crossroads for Women addresses substance abuse and other behavioral health issues so that women and their families can live healthy and independent lives. For more information, call 207-773-9931 or visit www.crossroadsforwomen.org.
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