Let’s not sugar-coat this: Dealing with an addicted spouse or partner is brutal, and you may not always know how to handle it. Trying to avoid all their triggers, or keep them from relapsing is a tall order even in the best of times — and the holidays can make it all even more overwhelming. If this is your partner’s first holiday season in recovery, there are a few different ways you can support them and help them stay clean and sober. Check out these tips so you can both have a holiday season to remember — for a good reason, for once.
1. Incorporate Recovery into Your Holiday Environment for Your Addicted Spouse
With the holidays and time off from work often comes drugs and alcohol: from mimosas at brunch to getting lit at holiday parties. One way to help you stop worrying about your partner relapsing and actually enjoy your holidays with them is to create a clean and sober holiday environment. You can make your home completely dry to get rid of any temptation for your partner. This includes getting rid of all the spiked eggnog in the house! Don’t forget about other household items that could be used to get drunk or high, too. Baking ingredients such as vanilla extract contain a high percentage of alcohol. If they’re desperate enough, an addict or alcoholic might just see it as a way to numb their emotions — and not a splash of tasty vanilla to add in the cookie dough. To learn more about how to make your home a recovery-friendly environment, click HERE.
2. Create Clean & Sober (& COVID-Friendly!) Holiday Traditions
Since the pandemic has made this year’s holiday season very different from previous ones, take advantage of it and create some new traditions — recovery- and COVID-friendly ones that is. Maybe past Christmases were always ruined by your drunk or high spouse, but this year you can actually enjoy it with your clean and sober partner. Get creative and start new traditions for you and your family, like building a gingerbread treehouse or ringing in the New Year with laughter by having a stand up comedy streaming marathon. Even if your partner hasn’t gotten sober yet or worse, if they’ve relapsed, trying to spend time together clean and sober will benefit you both. If you need help, give us a call. We’ll bring your spouse back to you so you and your family can begin to live out better holidays for the both of you.
3. Research Relapse Prevention Tips for Your Addicted Loved One
Maybe you can feel your partner is on edge or tempted by alcohol and drugs. You can help your spouse while putting your mind at ease this holiday season by researching relapse prevention tips. By having some tips under your belt, you may be able to prevent your spouse from relapsing. Show your support and give your partner addiction recovery books as an early Christmas gift. This will help remind your spouse about the importance of their sobriety, especially if you are traveling. For newly sober addicts and alcoholics, a daily routine is an anchor, and breaking that can be perilous.
Ultimately, the best way for you to ease your mind and enjoy the season is by communicating with your spouse. By working together to help prevent relapse for your partner’s first clean and sober Christmas season, you can get closer to living a better life through recovery. For more information on relapse prevention tips and other ways you can help your spouse stay clean and sober, click HERE.
If your spouse or partner is struggling with drug or alcohol addiction, help them get the addiction treatment they need. At Transformations Care, we use a dual-diagnosis approach to treat your partner’s addiction and the mental health issues fueling it. With us, you can trust that your spouse is not only in good hands, but will come back to you and your family a better person. With our help, you can look forward to the many happy holidays with your partner to come — and just regular days, too. Reach out to us today for more tips on helping your addicted loved one and how you can enjoy this season or the next. Don’t wait to give us a call at 424.339.0965. You may just save your partner’s life.
GUIDE
Getting Clean & Sober at Home
Today, more than 75% of hospitals and healthcare providers offer access to telehealth treatment, with 29 states having gone so far as to enact telehealth parity laws, which force insurance companies to reimburse patients for telehealth at the same rates as they would for in-person treatment.
If you’ve been thinking about getting clean and sober, or if you’ve been wanting to work on and strengthen the recovery you already have, it’s never been easier to do it through telehealth.
"*" indicates required fields