If your friends drink alcohol or use drugs, it is not a good idea to have them visit you in rehab. The reason you are in treatment is to learn how to stay sober, avoid triggers, and completely change your drinking and drug-using lifestyle. Going through detox and treatment is hard and you will face challenges with relapse for the rest of your life. Staying sober is a huge commitment and takes a lot of determination.
While in treatment, therapists and counselors will help to develop strategies on how to avoid temptations to drink alcohol or use drugs again. Avoid anyone who abused alcohol and drugs with you. If you cannot completely stay away from them, you should definitely limit your time around them. When you are around people who drink and use drugs, the risk of relapse is very high.
Try to make friends with sober people. New friendships can develop in treatment or group therapy. Other people are there, doing the same thing that you are doing. They are learning how to live a new sober life outside of treatment.
The friends who you would drink or use drugs with are not sober and they are not making any changes to their own lives. This is definitely not good to be around, especially if they influence you to drink and use drugs again. Any friends that you used to party with should not visit you in treatment.
Old friends who still drink and use drugs will not be supportive for you throughout your journey to sobriety. They will not encourage you to stay sober because they are not sober. They are addicted, so they cannot be a positive influence on your lifestyle changes. The old friends will not tell you how deadly alcohol and drugs are, and they will not tell you that drinking and using drugs ruined your life. They do not see themselves as having addiction problems.
The recovery process is not easy. Challenges with the temptation will always be around and relapse can happen at any time. Avoiding non-sober friends will lessen the chances of relapse. No one, including family, who is not sober, should visit you in treatment and you should avoid them when treatment ends.
Treatment for addiction is the start of a new life. We know how important treatment is. That’s why we’re offering the best in our treatment programs at The Springboard Center. Call us today for information on our residential treatment programs in the Permian Basin: 432-620-0255
