May is Mental Health Awareness Month. If May is anything like March and April this year, it will be a doozy and we are sure to see heightened signs of mental distress coming from our friends, family, or even ourselves. One major mental health concern is addictions recovery. It is no secret that Americans are struggling at alarming rates with addictions to drugs, alcohol, sex/pornography, and gambling. Many people are in recovery or have friends or family members in recovery who have been cut off from their support groups like AA or secular support. Recovery from any addiction is challenging on a good day even with all the access to all the resources. Maintaining sobriety during a global pandemic with the possible onslaught of extra challenges such as job loss, isolation, food insecurity, loss of health insurance (which provides treatment coverage) and more can seem impossible and hopeless. Old, unhealthy, coping mechanisms are likely trying to resurface while recovering people are trying to figure out how to handle all the new stresses. If you have friends or family in this situation you are probably wondering, "how can I help my loved ones with their recovery during this extra complicated time?
Say the words “I want to help”. Sometimes friends and family don't ask their loved ones who are in addiction recovery because they don't want to remind the person of their addiction. I promise the thoughts are never far away. Your loved one will more likely feel seen and heard when you acknowledge their journey. Talk to your friend about their needs. Support means different things to different folks, from being a sounding board or a shoulder to cry on via telephone or text or facetime, or giving reminders to take medication or helping to arrange transportation to any available support. Make sure you offer what you feel comfortable with and keep your firm boundaries so you can maintain your mental health. We want to encourage the independence and strengths of our friends, and at the same time, we don't want to enable inaction or increase depressive symptoms by shaming or devaluing their efforts. Be careful not to promise support you cannot follow through with. It is natural to want to offer as much support as your friend may need, but the friend's needs may be better met by a network of close friends. Likely, support cannot fall on you alone.
Encourage your loved one to continue the steps and work with their sponsor. Just because they might not be able to meet face to face doesn't mean all support stops. The relationship between sponsor and sponsee is a key component to recovery. The more encouragement received to solidify that interaction the better.
Encourage healthy and nourishing activities. Your person needs to have a healthy body, mind, emotional state, and spiritual state to work the program and be the most successful. They may have food insecurity or cut off from religious or spiritual services. They might not be able to access the gym which provided distraction and release of stress. Help your friend identify free access to workouts online or via DVD. Help your friend identify online religious services or reach out to spiritual leaders by phone. Connect with your friend socially through zoom, hatchback coffee dates, or by taking social distance walks if it is allowed and in line with your boundaries. Remind them of their hobbies and brainstorm ways to stay involved.
Avoid using addiction as a joke in your social media posts. If your social media feed or timeline is like mine, many well-intentioned amazing people are posting jokes and memes about day drinking, using excessive drugs or alcohol to get through the long draining days or porn hub server overload. I get it. It is natural and healthy to use humor to cope with extraordinary circumstances like our current situation. However, addiction is a real disease and we must be sensitive not to harm others with our attempts to relieve our overwhelming feelings. Be a good ally.
Provide your friend or family member with free resources available on their journey through this difficult time. In the section below I list a few of my favorite resources. Remember, treatment centers are open during this time. If your friend or loved one has relapsed or is in danger of relapsing please call your local drug and alcohol treatment facility. Call 211 if you need guidance on specific hospitals. If your friend has overdosed and or is in a medical crisis, call 911 immediately.
Resources:
Alcoholics Anonymous: Offers online support http://aa-intergroup.org/
Cocaine Anonymous: Offers online support and services https://www.ca-online.org/
Faces and Voices of Recovery Faces & Voices of Recovery are dedicated to organizing and mobilizing the over 23 million Americans in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs, their families, friends, and allies into recovery community organizations and networks.
LifeRing: LifeRing Secular Recovery offers online support https://www.lifering.org/online-meetings
In The Rooms - Online Recovery Meetings: Provides online support through live meetings and discussion groups https://www.intherooms.com/home/
Marijuana Anonymous: Offers virtual support https://ma-online.org/
Narcotics Anonymous: Offers a variety of online and skype meeting options https://www.na.org/meetingsearch/
Reddit Recovery: Offers a virtual hang out and support during recovery https://www.reddit.com/r/REDDITORSINRECOVERY/
Refuge Recovery: Provides online and virtual support http://bit.ly/refuge- recovery1
Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART) Recovery: Offers global community of mutual-support groups, forums including a chat room and message board https://www.smartrecovery.org/community/
Shatterproof is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the United States. How to Find a Virtual Recovery Meeting
Sober City: Offers an online support and recovery community https://www.soberocity.com/
Sober Grid: Offers an online platform to help anyone get sober and stay sober https://www.sobergrid.com/
Soberistas: Provides a women-only international online recovery community https://soberistas.com/
Sober Recovery: Provides an online forum for those in recovery and their friends and family https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/
We Connect Recovery: Provides daily online recovery groups for those with substance use and mental illness https://www.weconnectrecovery.com/free-online-support-meetings
Unity Recovery + WEconnect + Alano Club: Providing a daily virtual meeting for those in recovery and their family members https://unityrecovery.org/digital-recovery- meetings
*Alexa Griffith, LMHC, LCAC, NCC, RPT is a licensed mental health therapist. Alexa enjoys providing individual counseling and family counseling. She also provides play therapy for children, as well as teen and adolescent counseling via telehealth or in office.
Alexa's practice serves the Indianapolis area, including Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Zionsville, and Westfield. Learn more at AlexaGTherapy.com
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