Recovery Resources

The Univeristy Counseling Center knows that supporting someone in recovery can be a overwhelming task.  It may be difficult to know the best plan of action in supporting your loved one.  Here are a few helpful guidelines for assisting someone through this journey:

1. Gain knowledge

• Helpful books:
  • Get Your Loved One Sober by Robert Myers
  • Love First by Jeff and Debra Jay
  • Beautiful Boy by David Sheff
•  Helpful videos:
  • Anonymous People by Greg Williams
• Other Resources:
  • RecoveryAnswers.org -- Dr. John Kelly is a Harvard researcher who studies recovery. This site presents great science with readability
  • William White Papers
• Practice awareness of language
  •  Many families feel shame and stigma around their loved one’s substance use. Your loved one has a mental health condition – in many cases, a serious one. The term “substance use disorder” better represents the spectrum of challenges with substances, which range from mild to severe. At all levels, substance use should be addressed and treated. 

2. Get Support

• Individual or family counseling is often very helpful for families. 
• 12-step groups -- such as Al-Anon,  and Nar-Anon.
• SMART Recovery offers online family meetings
• Narcotics Anonymous LARNA.org and/or NSANA.org
• More recovery support and information can be found here.

3. Get Naloxone

• Naloxone/Narcan is a drug that reverses opioid overdoses.  If your loved one is using opioids, getting yourself and your loved one access to this life saving drug is essential. 
• Trainings are available periodically, and the drug can be purchased from most pharmacies.   
• The drug is covered by insurance with a physician's prescription; however, a prescription is not required to purchase.  
• More information on Narcan can be sought through Florida Parishes Human Service Authority.

4. Arm yourself with resources

• Get to know treatment and recovery resources. Resources to explore include:
  • Inpatient Detox
  • Intensive Outpatient
  • Short-Term Residential Treatment (Less than 30 days)
  • Long-Term Residential Treatment (60 days or more)
  • Outpatient physicians
  • Recovery Housing
  • Continuing Care Support

• Talk to your insurance company, try to get treatment pre-approved.  Find out what they cover.
• Ask your treatment provider questions:
  •  What is the average length of stay?
  • What do you do to connect them with follow up support?
  • Do you provide continuing care support?  What are your outcomes?
  • Do most clients step down into recovery houses?
  • How is the family involved in treatment?  Do you have a family program?
  • What is your facility’s particular strength?  Why is my loved one a good fit?
  • What other facilities would you suggest that I look at for my loved one?

5. Recovery is a long term commitment:

Addiction is a chronic disease that must be managed - Your loved one will need to learn to manage the disease over the long-term. The majority of people will not find recovery the first time they seek help.  This does not mean that treatment was a failure.

Recovery is not binary – People tend to think of addiction in very black and white terms, not drinking/using=success, drinking/using=failure.  Recovery is about a lifestyle change, and happens slowly over a long period. Often people have a slip or a lapse during that time.  Family members' ability to respond compassionately, yet firmly during these lapses can make all the difference in recovery.

30 days of recovery is barely a start -  The vast majority of people need a number of recovery supports to be successful with long-term recovery.  For many people, Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, SMART Recovery, or Celebrate Recovery serves this purpose, but other supports can be critical to augmenting this support.  Length of engagement is incredibly important in predicting recovery outcomes.  This can include:

Look at crisis as an opportunity – With your loved one’s next crisis, look for opportunities to get them into treatment.   Looking for windows of opportunity to engage people in positive change helps get people into treatment and start the road to recovery.

 

Contact us, If you would like to learn more, please reach out to us at recovery@southeastern.edu