When You Love Someone with
a Substance Use Problem…

  • Understand Addiction – Educate yourself.
  • Get Help Yourself – Addiction is a “family” disease and we cannot control an addict’s behavior, but we can control the way we behave in our relationships with them. Attend family programming and Al-Anon meetings.
  • Establish Boundaries and Set Limits – Don’t do things that they should be doing for themselves and don't do things that protect them from the natural consequences of their addiction.
  • Communicate – Share your concerns regularly. They may not listen at first, but when they are ready, they will hear.
  • Take Care of Yourself – Don’t put yourself in dangerous situations and make sure you have a support system that you can talk to about what’s going on.
  • Avoid Self-blame – You did not cause the addiction. You can encourage treatment and behavior change, but you can't force someone to change.