As your addict loved one comes home it can be a more difficult time than you can prepare yourself for. While there is no question that you are more than profoundly happy to see your loved one get treatment and you are more than glad to see them come home, this doesn’t mean you feel at ease with the situation. You know they need to get better and put in real work but transitioning back to the home life can be tough on both parties. But it doesn’t have to be a struggle all the time. There are ways to make the adjustment easy for all involved.
The first thing to do is rummage the house top to bottom and look for a stash of drugs. You may have covered this before your loved one went to rehab but it needs to be addressed again. An addict is very good at hiding his stashes of drugs all over the house. Check every nook of the house. What you are trying to avoid is a moment where the addict realizes there are drugs there and they take advantage of that and have a relapse.
The other thing that is important is to allow space. When an addict comes home they are dealing with their sober world in a world they have not known as sober. They have the things they need to focus on. They have bad days, They get tempted. They go to meetings. It’s a long process for an addict to feel normal so you must allow them to start to feel good in their own skin.
Also you have to take the bad moods as just simply that: bad moods. Addicts, when recovering, can be very irritable and that can take its toll on you and the rest of the family but know that it is just them trying to cope with their new found sobriety and it can become overwhelming to them. There is a lot for an addict to process when they get back home and know that you are definitely a part of the solution.
