Problematic drinking or drug use by yourself or a member of your family can be a stress not only on individuals, but also on the relationships between your family members. Often when making change, healing relationships is a challenging but highly rewarding process for everyone. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to this, but there are a number of resources available to support you and your family, depending on the circumstance.
Some helpful tips when working on this together is
- Try to keep discussions in a healthy space - actively listen to one another. Take time out if you feel things may not be going in the right direction.
- Allow yourself boundaries – clearly communicate with one another what you are and are not willing to discuss and put up with.
- Seeking support for yourself is an important self-care strategy. It is beneficial both for you and for your relationships.
- Family Drug Help have a number of online resources for family members
- Seven tips for dealing with teenage drug use
- Story: O brother, where art thou?
How has your journey or the journey of someone in your family affected your relationships? How have you coped with this?
Or perhaps you're working on healing relationships now - how's it going? Is there something which has been particularly helpful for you that perhaps you can share with others?