When your friend or loved one will soon be returning from an addiction recovery treatment center, you may be unsure about how you can best be prepared for their arrival. Because the first few months after recovery are the most crucial for continued sobriety, you may be very nervous about ensuring that you do everything possible to help them stay on the straight and narrow. So to help you create a good environment for your loved one to come home to, here are three ways you can make your home safe for a recovering addict.
Present A Clean Home
One of the biggest helps for maintaining sobriety, according to Drug-Addiction-Help.org, is to create an environment where there is limited stress that could trigger a relapse. For many people, one thing that can help reduce stress and bring feelings of peace and comfort is having a clean space to live. Depending on your loved one, this may be important to their recovery and their future sobriety. Especially if the recovering addict will be living in your home with you, try to do your best to ensure the area is clean and well maintained so this isn’t something they’ll have to worry about along with overcoming their other hurdles.
Get Rid Of Any Paraphernalia
To help your loved one stay committed to their recovery, you’re going to want to rid your home of any paraphernalia or potential triggers that could entice your loved one to slip up. Depending on what your loved one is recovering from, the things you’ll want to remove from your home will vary. For example, Addiction.com writes that if they’re addicted to alcohol, take all the alcohol out of your home. If their addiction was to pills, get rid of or lock up all the pills in your home that could be harmful to them. By removing these triggers, you’ll be giving your loved one a safe space to focus on their recovery without too many temptations.
Create Space For A Project Or Hobby
As a way to aid in recovery, McCarton Ackerman, a contributor to Recovery.org, shares that picking up a new hobby or project can be something to look into. If you think this could be beneficial, you may want to create a space in your home where you and your loved one could work on a project together. Not only will this help them get their mind off of their addiction and recovery, but it could also help you two to regain your relationship and develop a greater love and understanding of one another.
If you’ll soon be welcoming a recovering addict into your home, consider using the tips mentioned above to help ensure you can best help them stay on the path of sobriety.