How Do I Help My Teen Who was Affected by My Addiction?
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If you are experiencing addiction in your life, most likely you are affecting your children in a negative light with no intention to do so. Your family may be walking on eggshells trying to stay out of your way due to your addiction to drugs or alcohol. Addiction has a way of infiltrating a family and tainting the genuineness that surrounds it while playing heavily into changing the reliable dynamics that a family once possessed into a dysfunctional state rather quickly. You may be asking yourself what you can do to help your teen with the effects of your addiction. The best answer - get sober.
Help yourself first
The precept in helpfulness must start with yourself because you cannot help someone else unless you help yourself first. Trying to assist another person through the turbulence of your own problems is quite difficult to achieve most of the time. Getting help for your addiction can implement some necessary changes that will help others who have been affected by the hardships that have become more prevalent.Get your teen help
Having to deal with your addiction has probably brought about issues of their own. Your children experience physiological and emotional neglect once you start to abuse drugs and alcohol even when you are physically there for them. Once you start numbing out, they know that you are not there to support them or care for them in the way they need. Find a therapist, a support group, or a pastor that you teen can talk to and get some encouragement to work through the feelings that they have encountered directly relating to your addiction.Turn disappointment into healing
Most likely your kids have felt pain and disappointment from the behaviors you have displayed, but in your sobriety, you can become a breath of fresh of air to allow some healing to begin. This is a great time to show them how much you love them by putting down the drugs and alcohol to become parent they have desired to have in their life. Reconciling with your teen sober can give them a chance at rebuilding their self-esteem that may be lacking.Be a good example
History usually repeats itself which means that your child now has an increased chance to mirror your addictive behaviors. Your teen may already be acting out with drinking and drugging since that is the example that has been portrayed for them. Once you stop and show them how you have changed from being sober, you can talk to them about the dangers and repercussions they will face by sharing your experience with them. Anyone, including yourself, who has suffered with an addiction has an opportunity to get rebuild their life in sobriety. You may never repair all the damage that you previously caused although you can try with the tools that recovery has to offer you and your teen.Stonewater Adolescent Recovery Center has a program that can help the whole family to begin to heal. We offer essential recovery support skills to show the teen and their family how to implement a strong network that can reinforce healthy living.
Call us today to start living in recovery: 662-598-4214
