As the parent of a young adult in rehab, you have probably been through the emotional wringer. In the weeks and days before your child entered the treatment program, you lived in a rapidly changing emotional state that you were unable to control or change.Now that your adult child has entered residential rehab, you, too, have embarked on a healing recovery journey. You are educating yourself about addiction, following your child’s rehab activities, and discovering how to build a relationship with the new, responsible person your child is learning to be.
Write for Your Child and for Yourself
Recovery therapists stress how important family support is for young people in addiction treatment. However, the strain and estrangement that addiction creates in relationships can be difficult to bridge. One way to cross this gulf is to write a letter. Writing about your thoughts and feelings can be cathartic for you and enlightening for your child. Writing helps both of you see life and your relationship from a less emotional, more objective perspective. It provides a means for building a new relationship.
Share the Recovery Journey with Your Young Adult
You and your child are probably experiencing many of the same emotions: shame, guilt, fear, and even anger. Your young adult child in rehab is learning how to make life choices that will change his attitudes, activities, and reactions to his life. If you are in a support group, you are learning about ways to cope with your emotional triggers and enabling behaviors. Why not share the healing journey with your child?
Here are a few pointers to guide you as you learn and share recovery thoughts and lessons in letters to your child:
• Stay positive
• Be consistent with her recovery program
• Support healthy living choices
• Relate thoughts & happenings that show positive growth and enlightenment in you
• Share anecdotes from your life that show common ground and understanding
• Ask your adult child for input, opinions, and examples that might help you, too
• Stay in the present; do not relive the past
• Keep in mind that your relationship should be evolving as your child is becoming a self-actualized adult
• Express your love and encouragement for this new, sober person
Young Adult Residential Rehab in CA
When a young adult child is caught in addictive behavior, isolation and hopelessness take over. Hope Academy’s residential rehab can change this with treatment and opportunities for schooling and sober living. If you are the parent of a young adult in addiction, dial 866.930.4673 to begin the admissions process and start your young adult on the pathway to a sober future.
