How Can Your Friends Help Support You During an NJ Drug Rehab Program?

During the journey to reclaim your life while in an NJ drug rehabilitation center, life can be very depressing and uncertain. The road to recovery is often filled with fear, worry, and loneliness. The road to recovery is never an easy one to travel. While you may have counselors, nurses, and the full support of staff and others during treatment, you still need the help of your friends. There are many ways that your friends can support you during an NJ drug rehab program that you may never have realized.

Sometimes during a drug rehabilitation program, your immediate family can be difficult or less understanding than close friends. Close friends can provide strength and understanding while you’re attending treatment for a drug or alcohol addiction that you may not get from family members. During drug treatment, it’s extremely beneficial to have all the support you can get in order to be successful and reach your goal of sobriety. Close friends are real friends who will be with you through thick and thin. These are people you grew up with or have known for many years. These are people that have spent years of their lives with you. These types of friends are the same friends that help define you as a person by knowing who you are and not what you are or what you’ve done, and phone calls and visits are not the only ways friends can help support you during an NJ drug rehab program.

How Friends can Help You Achieve Sobriety

Having the support of family and friends to help and support you while attending a drug treatment program is a great thing. In fact, you stand a much better chance of completing your program with the help of those close to you than you do alone. While in rehab, things can get blurry and mixed up, and it can be hard to see just how friends can really help, but friends can help in more ways than you think.

After you take that huge step and enter a drug treatment center you’ll need your friends more than ever. Here are a few ways that your friends can help you during and after treatment:

  • Unwavering support
  • Distractions from self-pity, loneliness, and fear
  • Help with aftercare planning
  • Provide acceptance

Most inpatient drug treatment facilities don’t allow addicts to leave the treatment facility until after they have completed the program. After some time, this can get extremely depressing and aggravating for most recovering addicts. It’s times like these when visitations and phone calls from friends are particularly helpful. Friends offer a different perspective when it comes to addiction and recovery that you can’t get from counselors and family members. A friend’s perspective can help you set boundaries when it comes to thinking and actions that could hinder your recovery. Simply put, close friends often tell you things that you don’t want to hear but are truthful and important to your recovery. A lot of times family members are cautious of what they say from fear of hurting your feelings or upsetting you, while their intentions may be good, not being completely honest can hurt your recovery from drugs or alcohol.

At some point during your substance abuse treatment program, you will most likely undergo outpatient treatment. During any outpatient treatment program, a support network of family and friends is vital to staying clean and sober. While in outpatient treatment, you no longer have the benefit of being in a safe and secure environment where you have the support of staff, and counselors and you don’t have to face the many temptations and triggers of drugs and alcohol. You have the freedom to do what you please. The only things that will keep you from relapse are yourself and your family and friends. Close friends will help you keep the boundaries you set and hold you accountable when they see signs of you getting off course. Sometimes, it’s easier for friends to see your weaknesses than yourself or your family members. Another important thing to keep in mind is that many addicts believe they don’t have any real friends. For the most part, this is untrue.

If you look around, you can find friends that you may have lost touch with during your addiction, but they are still there. Reconnect with old and childhood friends as a part of your recovery and get their support. Reconstruction from a drug or alcohol addiction is not easy, and friends can help you reclaim your life while you’re in a drug treatment program and after. If you’re ready to get started and reclaim your life, then give us a call at 833-610-1174. Our counselors are here to help you 24 hours a day.