49. Thrive! How Loved Ones Should Act and Support

Addiction2Recovery

Pam, the head of the non-profit Thrive! Family Recovery Resources, is a mother who, like so many others, had a child who suffered from a substance use disorder. Jake, unfortunately, inherited the strong addiction genes that ran through generations and, despite a 'stable, loving, close-knit, out-doorsy' family, still developed the disease, he did not chose it. Pam and her husband struggled to find person-centered, non-confrontational, non tough-loved based treatment stating on the Thrive! website ( www.thrivefamilyrecoveryresources.org ) "Between predatory practices of treatment centers and the propagation of the "tough love" ideology... felt like they were failing their son, both in the way they were interacting with him and their inability to find services from the medical community that would assist him." She developed Thrive! to assist other family members in navigating this journey, similar to how peer support walks alongside people with SUD. "How we respond as a family member can built more willingness or can completely shut it down" is how she modified their approach to Jake as they found that tough love and confrontation only led to perpetuated use. When they approached Jake with love and intention it helped his own personal shame. They asked themselves, "if this was the last text we sent, or the last moment we had with Jake, would we be able to live with that? Would he have known how loved and cherished he was?"

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