How To Support a Sober Partner or Loved One

If your loved one has gone through an addiction treatment program and is perhaps in a sober living home, you may want to know how to support a sober loved one and how you will be able to contact them when they are in a sober living home.

While sober living homes in Orange County will be similar to those around the county, they have the unique advantage of being in a beautiful and serene location within walking distance of the beach. Despite how amazing these locations can be, your loved one can still struggle with urges and cravings to use, that said, there are things that you can do to help support your friend or family member during their time in an Orange County rehab or in sober living.

How You Can Support a Sober Partner or Loved One

When someone you love comes finally seeks help with their drug addiction problem and makes the choice to enter an inpatient drug treatment program or sober living home, it’s often an incredible relief. At long last, relationships that have been damaged by a loved one’s drug addiction can be mended, and we go forward with new hope that our loved one is on a journey to recovery. However, the decision to enter drug treatment is just the beginning — to give them the best chance of recovery, your loved one will need your support and encouragement as they heal. Contacting loved ones while in a drug addiction recovery program will help remind them that you’re in full support of their recovery. However, whatever sober living home you, your friend, or loved one chooses, there will be some restrictions on visitors and interaction with people who are not actively enrolled in one of the sober living home’s programs. The reasons may be obvious: they’re trying to control who and what comes in and out of the house. That being said, a stint in a sober living home doesn’t mean total isolation. In fact, at certain stages of the recovery process, outside interaction is encouraged.

If your loved one is in a treatment facility or a sober living environment, you may be wondering if you’ll be able to be in contact with them and if they’ll have a cell phone.

Can You Have a Cell Phone in Sober Living?

While all facilities are different, clients at The District will be able to have access to their cell phones when they are admitted as long as they are 14 days sober. If they don’t meet those criteria, their phone will be on a 72-hour hold at which point they will have access once again. Clients will also be granted access to laptops as well.

This hold is to ensure client safety. We don’t want new clients reaching out to people who will enable their addiction and get them the substances that they have worked to be free from. If you would like to learn more about this policy, please contact us or give our admissions team a call at 844-287-8506. They can answer any question you have about the treatment process.

Sober Living Doesn’t Have to Mean Isolation

Letters are wonderful ways to get in touch with your loved one during their stay at a treatment facility or a sober living home, as they provide a gentle approach that allows the patient to get in touch on their own timetable. Letters also can be reread, bringing encouragement and delight late at night when it is past visiting hours. Few gifts are as valuable as your presence, and the sad truth is that few friends go out of their way to visit during tough situations. Even spending a few hours with your loved one can make an incredible difference in their day and their healing. You can also consider creating a care package. You’ll want to get in touch with your loved one’s relative or the treatment center itself to inquire first as to which items are encouraged and which are disallowed. Prohibited items usually include food, alcohol, or contraband of any kind, but most other items are accepted.

Good care package ideas include:

Books
Magazines
Crossword puzzles
Journals
Stuffed animals
Mix CDs
Photographs

The process of mending relationships during recovery treatment develops over time. Staying in touch with your friend or loved one is a very unselfish act. It takes a special kind of person to forgive the wrongs done by someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol. If you’re that type of person, know that your kind gestures and attempts to encourage your friend or loved one while in recovery will go a long way towards mending the relationship. Remember that when they’ve completed inpatient or outpatient treatment, their activities will be very different than they were during addiction. Positive lifestyle changes can help your friend to feel better in recovery – physically and psychologically. Little things like choosing to go get a salad instead of getting a pizza, or going for a walk together instead of sitting in a movie theater, can help your friend to make positive lifestyle choices – and it’s good for you too! Remember that just showing you care is a huge thing. Your interest in helping your friend or loved one in recovery speaks volumes about your character and your hopes for their continued success in recovery. You can have a big impact just by showing up and checking in. Send a text, come over, or invite them out for coffee or for a run. Include them in your life in little ways and invite them to do the same.