Building Family Trust and Relationships in Sobriety

Addiction is a disease with many profound effects, impacting everything from a person’s mental and physical health to their professional life, hobbies, social groups, and more. However, the disease does not affect people in isolation and instead affects entire communities. Family members can be among those most profoundly affected by addiction, with the disease compromising trust and birthing friction at home. Rebuilding family trust in sobriety as an alumnus can be difficult. Still, it is important to address family trust in sobriety for the best approach to creating a healthy and educated support system at home.

Addiction can impact the family in a variety of ways, and addressing the effects of addiction on the family is paramount for truly transformative and sustainable change. For many, addiction can affect family trust by straining these relationships. Addiction can cause an individual to adopt a more isolated lifestyle or see family or loved ones as hurdles to further use of drugs or alcohol. Moreover, these addictive substances can also cause family members to feel as if they come second to these addictive substances. 

Coupled with an increase in anger, agitation, mood swings, and more, addiction can further strain family trust by making communication difficult. This can develop into more frequent misunderstandings, anger, resentment, frustration, and more among family members. An inability to communicate effectively can also make family members feel as if their own homes are unsafe or unwelcoming as this strained atmosphere permeates the hallways.

For others, financial strains and legal issues can deteriorate trust as family members feel forced to pick up financial burdens. Addiction can affect a person’s budget and cause an individual to divert more of their finances to these substances and even prioritize this spending over other areas, such as rent, groceries, and more, as well as compromise one’s professional life through decreased workplace attendance, performance, and even the loss of jobs. 

Lastly, family trust can also be affected as roles within a family begin to change. Family members may feel forced to take on caretaker roles to address addiction in the family, or responsibilities may be unevenly or unfairly assigned because of addiction, further affecting trust, birthing further resentments, and gravely impacting these important relationships.

Families are some of the most important people in overcoming addiction, with their unconditional love and support being instrumental in empowering alumni to pursue treatment and continuing to support each alumnus after graduating from Hawaii Island Recovery’s treatment programs in Hawaii. Trusted family members can also be integral parts of continued recovery and sober efforts, helping alumni develop escape plans and self-care strategies to further explore their sober identities. 

Families also play a role in the changing attitudes and stigmas around addiction recovery. Repairing family trust in sobriety is crucial for not just rebuilding relationships with supportive individuals but also for truly changing the culture of a household to best support, understand, and unify throughout the recovery process. Each family will have their way of navigating the challenges of addiction recovery, reconciling past mistakes and frustrations, and coming together to move forward in sobriety.

The journey with recovery and sobriety doesn’t end at the doors of a treatment facility. Engaging in dedicated strategies as an alumnus to explore familial healing is part of this continued journey. Working with Hawaii Island Recovery’s professionals and engaging in continued local family therapy can be great ways to explore new strategies for rebuilding family trust as a sober alumnus. 

Communication can be one of the first things compromised due to addiction. Sitting down in family therapy or alongside family members in a safe space and discussing the best ways to communicate is essential. Not only can establishing these strategies as early as possible help to mitigate unnecessary confusion, friction, or misunderstandings but it also ensures that each person in the family has a chance to be heard, understood, and respected throughout family healing. 

Being accountable for past behaviors and actions that may have negatively impacted family members, as well as acknowledging exactly how they were affected, can go a long way in rebuilding family trust. This can also empower each alumnus and their family to focus more on the future by actively making an effort to reconcile past events while addressing lingering feelings of resentment, frustration, and anger. 

Learning to set boundaries as an alumnus is crucial, empowering each alumnus to focus on their healing and efforts in the best way possible. However, learning to set boundaries is a skill for entire families, and family members will also need to set their boundaries when it comes to their own needs, self-care, and more. Respecting the boundaries of others is paramount to rebuilding family trust. Just as alumni will need their own space, family members should also be encouraged to continue tending to their own needs, and may not be available all the time, encouraging a robust and versatile set of coping skills.

Addiction is a complicated disease, and it can be difficult for those who have not lived with it to truly grasp how it affects each person. Engaging in professional family programs and educating family members about the disease can help each family reach a new level of understanding, with each person continuing to further their understanding of the disease to contextualize experiences, perspectives, and more. 

Rebuilding family trust can lead to a truly unified and supportive family dynamic, completely with a healthy home atmosphere for alumni and family members alike. Hawaii Island REcovery’s dedicated treatment programs in Hawaii understand the important role of family in genuine and sustainable healing, and we champion the role that family embers can play in this change. From helping you develop the necessary skills to engaging with effective family programs and education strategies, we are committed to a holistic form of change to heal the family, all while developing effective communication skills, understanding, setting boundaries, and more. For more information on how we can help you rebuild trust with your family in sobriety, call us today at (866) 390-5070.