How to support your loved one as they enter alcohol rehab

What alcohol addiction rehab involves

Rehab is supported recovery that focuses on getting your loved one well and abstinent from alcohol. Rehab can be inpatient, where your loved one will stay at a rehab facility, or outpatient, where they will travel to appointments. Outpatient gives people the ability to maintain responsibilities like work or childcare, but inpatient gives them an environment free of external stressors and substances to maximise their recovery efforts.

Once the withdrawal period has been navigated, longer-term treatments must be engaged with to ensure sobriety is maintained. Comprehensive treatment programmes will make use of the following.

Intake and assessment

This is the fact-finding stage, where your loved one’s history of alcohol misuse, physical and mental health conditions and goals for treatment will be explored. Rehab is tailored to the individual, so an individual treatment plan will be made.

Detox

If required, your loved one will be helped to clear the alcohol out of their system through a safely managed withdrawal.

Pharmacotherapy

Medications may be used to ease withdrawals and to treat co-occurring mental health conditions like depression.

Behavioural counselling and therapy

Rehabs provide a range of counselling, psychotherapeutic, behavioural and complementary therapies to give your loved one as many tools as possible to stay sober.

Peer support groups

By engaging with peers via group therapy, your loved one can access knowledge, support and connection and be kept accountable by others.

Substance use monitoring

Your loved one’s alcohol use will be monitored to make sure they’re adhering to the recovery process.

Continuing care

Recovery is ongoing, so once the acute phase of rehabilitation is over, recovery will enter the stage of treatment that follows intensive care. This can look like continued group meetings, therapy and telephone calls.

Rehab is a long-term process, and sobriety needs to be maintained beyond rehab. To genuinely commit to the recovery process, your loved one will need as many resources as possible to continue – and that includes support from their loved ones. You can help them by learning as much as you can about the process and offering emotional and practical support.

Educate yourself about addiction

Addiction is a chronic, lifelong but treatable condition. As it progresses, it causes changes to brain chemistry, worsening the addiction. Your loved one is taking a brave and difficult step by choosing to engage in recovery. It will not be easy, and empathy and understanding from those who love them will go a long way.

Everyone learns differently, and fortunately, there are plenty of resources for people to learn about addiction in a variety of formats. You can consider looking for any of the following resources to educate yourself.

• Reach out to anyone else you know who has struggled with addiction. You may not know anyone, and if you do, you shouldn’t push them to share if they aren’t comfortable – but if they are willing to share their experiences about addiction and recovery with you, these insights can be invaluable.
• Join forums or social media groups for friends and family of people supporting loved ones who struggle with addiction. These spaces should focus on discussing the best ways to support and sharing success stories and tips on managing difficult times in the recovery process.
• Read books or even academic papers on the nature of addiction.
• Engage with podcasts or documentaries about alcohol addiction and the recovery process.
• Ask the rehab that your partner is at and whether they have materials for friends and family that you can engage with.

Finding media from people who have been through rehab and are sharing their stories can be helpful. Many people share their recovery stories on platforms like YouTube, and these videos can offer both hope and insight into the recovery process and help you to understand what your loved one is going through.

Support your loved one emotionally

Recovery has a transformative effect on people with addictions and their relationships. Conversely, supportive relationships boost the likelihood that they will recover. Studies have shown that strong relationships make it more likely that a person starts the recovery process and maintains it long-term. Relationships can be considered a type of ‘recovery capital’ – a vital resource for a person in addiction recovery to draw upon when times get tough.

Isolation, loneliness and addiction all feed off each other and make recovery harder. On the other hand, positive and caring connections with others can help to weaken the hold substances have over the user. Being there for your loved one with visits, phone calls, and texts can be a lifeline when they’re in rehab.

Practical support

Supporting someone practically means doing what you can to ensure your loved one can concentrate on recovery fully.

This can involve helping them get to their appointments or taking care of some of their responsibilities so they can focus fully on their recovery. It can even involve something as small as bringing them comforting things that ease the withdrawal process, like family photos. Simple acts of kindness can go a long way to helping your loved one feel supported.

Relapse and how to handle it

Relapse is a gradual process with multiple stages – so being aware of the progression of relapse is vital.

There are five stages, and spotting the signs early means you can intervene and encourage your loved one to seek help.

Stage one – Emotional relapse

During emotional relapse, the person isn’t thinking about using again, but their emotional state is setting them up to relapse. They may bottle up their emotions, isolate themselves, stop taking care of themselves and stop engaging in the recovery process. This stage is often marked by denial. Intervening at this stage can prevent the relapse before it worsens.

Stage two – Mental relapse

The person will start to experience an internal conflict between using and not using. They will have cravings, start to reminisce about previous substance use, bargain with themself about using again and start entertaining plans to use. At this stage, they’re still on the fence about using and will struggle internally.

Stage three – Planning to use again

At the planning stage, the person decides to use it again. They may expose themselves to risky situations or environments and begin to isolate themselves further.

Stage four – Lapse

This is the slip – the first use after sustained recovery efforts. It’s important to know that not all lapses become full relapses, and the process can still be stopped here. However, this is a dangerous stage, and your loved one is at serious risk of entering full relapse.

Stage five – Relapse

Relapse is not using drugs or alcohol a single time – it is a return to previous patterns. Relapse involves uncontrolled substance use and abandoning the recovery process.

Early intervention can prevent the relapse from progressing to stage five – but even if your loved one does go through a full relapse, they can return to and recommit to sobriety. Your love and support are crucial and can help to guide them back to recovery.

We can help your loved one recover

At UKAT, we offer comprehensive rehab treatment programmes that provide a safe, nurturing environment to help your loved one leave alcohol behind forever. Addiction thrives in isolation – we can make sure your loved one does not have to suffer alone.