How Can I Support My Spouse Trying to Get Sober?

Help Your Partner Find Recovery from Alcohol Abuse or Drug Abuse

Chances are that you would do anything in your power to help your spouse get better. Putting a stop to drug and alcohol abuse is beyond challenging, so how can I support my spouse trying to get sober?

Some of the things you can do in early recovery include making your home drug and alcohol-free, having fun with your spouse in new ways, and maintaining an active connection to their recovery in family therapy. Don’t forget to tend to your own mental health and set boundaries, taking care of yourself and educating yourself on the process.

Changes Healing Center can help you explore treatment options for a spouse who is ready to seek help for their addiction. With same-day admissions, you can get them the help they need when they need it most.

Keep reading to learn more about how you can offer your support as they heal from substance misuse.

8 Key Ways to Support Your Partner’s Recovery Process

If you have spent time watching an addicted spouse suffer from substance abuse, then you know that you would do anything to support their sobriety. You can do plenty of simple things to help them live a sober life, but it’s important to remember that you can’t do this for them.

You might want to take addiction from them and put a stop to it, but your support can genuinely make their life easier.

Here are eight key things you can do for a partner with a drug or alcohol addiction.

1. Commit to Keeping Your House Free of Drugs and Alcohol

The first thing you can do may very well be the simplest: you can keep your home free of drugs and alcohol. In the days of early recovery, your loved ones will have the desire to drink and abuse drugs, just as they have been using them to cope with difficult emotions for a long time.

They’ll likely pick it up again if it is lying around the house. Living environments that are conducive to recovery tend to have better outcomes.

This might mean that you need to commit to your own sobriety as well. It will be very hard for your partner to be around someone who is using substances when they can no longer do so. Keep your home as a safe space where they can rest without worrying about what they may get into.

2. A Recovering Alcoholic Can Have Fun

Remember that your partner or family members might have had to stop drinking or using drugs; they didn’t have to stop having fun. It might take a little more creativity, but finding new ways to initiate fun and pleasurable activities with your partner and your family is extremely important.

It won’t be as simple as eating at a restaurant where alcohol may be served. You might need to find a place specializing in mocktails or avoid eating and drinking altogether. You can pack your picnic basket and spend a day at a county park, hike, go canoeing, and get active. You can paint or blow glass. There are endless activities you can do that don’t involve substances.

This is especially important for your relationship, which has likely been damaged by past actions. You need to remember why you’re together in the first place and start to make new memories.

3. Stay Active in Addiction Recovery with Your Sober Partner

It’s important that you take an active role in your partner’s treatment program when it’s offered to you. While there will be some things they need to deal with on their own in therapy, a spouse’s role can be to help them with emotional support.

This means that you need to have open communication with your partner as well as their therapist. You can work through their triggers and tough situations that are going on at home that can worsen alcohol and drug use. Being in therapy with them means that you can talk about what each person needs within the relationship.

It’s a time for both of you to explore what it looks like to maintain sobriety and to set boundaries.

4. Seek Professional Help for Your Own Mental Health Needs

It isn’t enough to simply be with your spouse in their own therapy sessions. Chances are that being with an addicted or alcoholic spouse has wreaked havoc on your own mental health. Many family members assume that their lives will improve when their spouses get sober, but that isn’t always the case.

They may still be caring for their spouses and helping them through early recovery when they have outbursts and unstable moods.

Maybe you feel guilt about your inability to focus on taking care of them. Maybe you feel that you were unable to protect them from the trap they fell in with drugs and alcohol. You may even have trust issues that you need to struggle with in your own individual counseling.

5. Set Boundaries with an Addicted Spouse

One of the best things you can do for yourself will actually help your addicted spouse to face the music for their own actions. However, it’s also one of the hardest things to set right once someone decides to enter into recovery: setting boundaries.

This means you’ll no longer protect them from the consequences of their actions. In the past, you may have shouldered more responsibilities at home to make up for their absence. You covered for them at work and family events when they were too high or drunk to attend. You gave in to their demands and sacrificed your self-care.

Now, it’s time to set healthier boundaries with your loved ones and let them know what you will and will not tolerate and what you expect from them. Positive relationships can lead to more positive outcomes in the long run, even if it feels uncomfortable now.

6. Explore Treatment Options for Loved Ones in Early Recovery

Oftentimes, people think that they are in the home stretch of the recovery process when their spouse finally decides that they’re ready to seek treatment. The problem is that they might not know exactly what they need.

Changes Healing Center can help you bridge the gap and determine what you need to do to improve your mental and physical health. We can talk with you about your spouse’s options for residential support as well as outpatient treatment programs for drug and alcohol addiction.

Our enrollment team can answer your questions about finding the right level of care. We even offer to verify your insurance benefits so that you can make sure it won’t be a financial strain. We accept most forms of AHCCCS and private insurance.

7. Take Time for Self-Care

While your spouse is at residential rehab, this is an important time for you to rest and prioritize your own mental health. Meet with your therapist to discuss what you need for your own well-being, but this is a time for you to explore interests that have long been dormant.

No matter what self-care means to you, you can start to put yourself first again when your spouse is in addiction recovery. The key is to maintain that time for yourself when they return home instead of giving in to the need to hover and protect them at all costs.

Think of it as a recovery for yourself as well. Addiction impacted your life, too, and it’s time to learn how to live without it haunting your daily life.

8. Educate Yourself on the Early Stages of the Recovery Process

When you have a loved one in addiction recovery, it’s important that you try to understand where they are coming from and what they are coping with. It allows you to build empathy for their situation, even when you’re exhausted by their addiction and substance abuse.

Learn as much as you can about how addiction changes the brain and impacts self-esteem, as well as the many ways that you can go about treating it. You may find new evidence-based treatments that a spouse has yet to try that could unlock the door to a breakthrough for them.

This is a great time to make use of their therapist, who has the experience and knowledge to direct you to resources that can help. You may decide to participate in your own version of Twelve Step meetings with Al-Anon that illuminate addiction recovery.

Let Changes Healing Center Help Your Loved One Thrive in Recovery

Are you ready to confront a loved one with their addiction and propose that they seek treatment? We can help you understand the options that are available for a spouse who wants to get sober with our range of services, from residential to intensive outpatient. We even offer same-day admissions so that they can get help right away.

Let our enrollment team provide you with the resources you need to present all of the options to your loved ones. Reach out to us today to learn more!