When you care about someone who’s an addict, you might feel completely helpless. You may watch them destroy their life with their pursuit of drugs and alcohol, but it may feel like nothing you say or do makes any difference to the person. You beg. You cry. You refuse to lend money. You implore them to seek addiction treatment. Nothing works.
First, you need to do what you can to maintain your compassion for the addict and to keep yourself from slipping into anger and despair, which can cause you to give up hope and stop making any effort. Here are a few things that you can do to help an addict in your family or an addict you love:
A lot of people mistakenly think that addicts are in control of their behaviors. They think that if only the addict made a choice to change their behavior, they could. But this just isn’t the case. When someone is in an active addiction, they will do anything they can to get their next drink or their next score. They just want to feel that buzz or that high.
Knowing and accepting this is going to help you immensely in your quest to help your loved one. You will stop trying to rationalize with the person, and you will stop blaming them and feeling disappointed or angry because of them. You can then start to see their addiction for what it is: A disease. Just as you wouldn’t get upset at a cancer patient for not being able to slow the growth of a tumor, you can’t get angry at an addict for acting out to get that next fix. You have to accept the addiction as a disease and get professional help from an addiction treatment facility.
That’s right. You need to sit back and let your loved one get arrested if they have drugs on them or are stealing to finance their habit. You need to let them get in trouble at work because they are constantly showing up late. You need to let them answer to their spouses or to their other loved ones for the ways that they have been failing them.
The reason you need to do these things is that addicts will not try to break free from the grip of drugs or alcohol until the consequences they experience from using are greater than the pleasure they get from it. You don’t have to let them seriously injure themselves, and you don’t have to stand by while you see them in a situation that poses immediate, physical harm. But you should refrain from intervening in other circumstances so they can face those natural consequences and hopefully realize that they need to get help.
You can’t show compassion to a loved one struggling with addiction if you are stressed out, frustrated, angry, and otherwise overwhelmed by your own life or by the situation with the addict. You need to take care of yourself before you can take care of others. Make sure you are getting the things you need, including a healthy diet, regular exercise, down time, and time with friends and family.
You should also consider attending a group for friends and family of addicts, such as Al-Anon or Narcon. You will get support from others going through the same thing, and you will get advice and feedback for how to help yourself and your loved one.
It can be very difficult when someone you love is addicted to drugs or alcohol. You may feel powerless and afraid. But you can get help for yourself and for your loved one. You just need the right perspective and help from the right addiction clinic or treatment center.
Corebella Health and Wellness is ready to help your family. We offer addiction treatment for those struggling with drugs and alcohol, and we offer addiction counseling for those in recovery, as well as their loved ones. We serve patients throughout Glendale and Tempe, and we have a variety of treatment options to meet your needs, including medication treatment through a suboxone doctor. Call us today to learn more about how we can help you.
2600 E Southern Ave Suite E-1
Tempe, Arizona 85282
Office: (480) 409-0322
5700 W Olive Ave, Suite 107
Glendale, AZ 85302
Office: (602) 4929595
6565 E Greenway Parkway
Suite 102, Scottsdale, AZ 85254
Office: (602) 649-0677
Email: [email protected]
FAX: 877-559-2816
Kendahl is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) skilled in trauma-informed care, centered in a strengths-based lens. Kendahl believes that no person is broken, and everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect while trusting their own inherent worth.
Kendahl specializes in creating safe and inclusive environments to provide effective client-centered care, where all people can feel accepted, seen, and valued during their healing journey.
Kendahl is passionate about removing barriers to treatment for all, within a collective and collaborative community. As an advocate for human rights, Kendahl utilizes social work ethics and social justice to drive their passion for serving others. As an artist and mentor turned behavioral health professional, Kendahl conscientiously integrates the creative process and best evidence-based practices, to guide their vision, and model a path to holistic healing.
Dr. Nicki Rippeteau grew up in suburban Detroit and in Missouri. She graduated from University of Central Missouri and University of Missouri-Kansas City school of medicine. She trained at the Mayo Clinic and remained on staff at Mayo for 5 years, receiving Board Certification in Anesthesiology.
Dr. Rippeteau practiced Anesthesiology and Interventional Pain Management in Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri for over 30 years.
The last several years, she has been committed to the practice of Addiction Medicine, emphasizing a holistic approach, addressing needs of both the body and the mind.
When not practicing medicine, she likes to cook and enjoys spending time with her two dogs, family, and especially her grandchildren.
Dr. M. Khoury is a graduate of Michigan State University. He obtained his medical degree at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. His residency was in Family Medicine as part of the William Beaumont hospital system. He moved to Arizona in 2001.
Dr. Khoury has over twenty-five years of experience in primary and urgent care. He served as an urgent care director for the Honor Health System. Dr. Khoury is board certified in Family Medicine, a member of The American Family Physicians and a member of American Medical Association. Dr. Khoury has a special interest in addiction medicine. He enjoys making a difference in people’s lives. He looks forward to helping people change their lives for the better and help them see that there is a bright future ahead of them.
He enjoys traveling and his favorite destinations to visit have been Europe and Mexico. He likes to watch football every Sunday and cheers on The Arizona Cardinals. Dr. Khoury loves to spend time with his family. He enjoys taking his two daughters and his wife to new restaurants and local attractions such as the Phoenix Zoo, learning from the local museums and strolling through the Desert Botanical Garden as a family.
With the growing concerns around the Coronavirus (COVID-19), we want to take a moment to reassure our Corebella family that we are taking all the necessary precautions to ensure your health and safety as we continue to operate. We know how important our service can be during this time of need. That’s why our doors will remain open for our patients and anyone in need of our services.
At Corebella we practice rigorous cleaning and sanitation procedures and we have implemented extra precautions to ensure that our clinics remain safe and comfortable places.
We are closely monitoring the situation and will continue to follow the guidelines from the CDC and public health experts. The health and wellbeing of our patients, employees, and community is our top priority.
You can reach our Tempe office by phone at (480) 409-0322 or our Glendale office at (602) 492-9595. You can also schedule your appointment or submit your questions online at our contact page https://www.corebellawellness.com/contact/
We are here for you
The Corebella Team