You have just found out that you have a heroin addict living in your house.
Whether it is your partner, your teenage child or another family member, it is time to make some hard choices and take the steps to deal with the situation without anyone getting hurt or further traumatized.
The first thing to do is make sure that access to credit cards and money is not available. A person who is a heroin addict is quite likely to “borrow”, in other words, steal from the family in order to buy heroin and get a fix. If the family member is one of the ones who have access to the accounts, you may very well have to change everything over to a single name so the heroin addict cannot get to the money.
Many drug rehab centers have programs for heroin addicts.
The next thing to do is set up an intervention. A professional counsellor at a reputable drug rehab center can walk you through the steps and most times, will even make himself available to be at the intervention with you and your family to help the loved one face his addiction and prepare him to check into a treatment program.
If the heroin addict is your teenager, you are going to have to play hardball here as well. No more allowing freedom to just go out with friends, some of which may be on heroin as well. The teenager needs to understand that you love him and that your main priority is helping him get into treatment so he can recover successfully. Many drug rehab centers have programs for teenage heroin addicts.
* Do not forget yourself in all of this.
There are many support groups out there for family members who live with a heroin addict. You can meet with other people who are in the same situation as you, and understand where you are coming from. Sometimes someone who has been lucky enough not to have dealt with something like that could never understand.
* Living with a heroin addict is hard but it can be done.
Take the steps to eliminate the actual problem and all of you can soon get back to successful and fulfilling lives. Experiences such as this can often bring a family even closer together. Do the right thing for yourself, the addict and the rest of the family. Get help today, the rest of your lives is waiting to be lived.
Author: National Addiction Resources
America's Best Treatment Directory
Leave a Reply