Many struggling addicts are also parents, and the prospect of living a clean and sober life presents the opportunity to improve their relationship with their children. If this sounds like a familiar situation, you may be interested in learning how the recovery process in a Houston rehab program will help you improve your parenting skills. While there aren’t specific services that are directed towards teaching parenting skills, your individual therapy and group counseling meetings can help you in this way. In one on one therapy sessions, you can discuss your past experiences with your children. Since a part of addiction is the alienation of family members, there may be trouble between you and your kids. Discussing these issues can help you explore how these problems started. You may not even realize how much your addiction played a part in creating a rift between you and your children, so it’s important to explore these issues with an unbiased therapist. You can also discuss your goals for reuniting with your children in therapy. Your therapist can help you set short-term and long-term goals for rebuilding the relationships you have with your children.
An important aspect of recovery in a Houston rehab program is seeking forgiveness from those you have harmed with your addiction-related behaviors. This is a challenging step and many addicts find they need the guidance and support that group counseling provides in pursuing forgiveness from loved ones. This includes apologizing to your children in addition to apologizing to adult relatives who were hurt by your past behavior. This is the first step in renewing your relationship with your children, which is why getting the support from others is especially important. Addicts in various stages of recovery come together in group counseling sessions to allow each addict to benefit from the insights of others. Individuals who are in a later stage of recovery may already have gone through the process of reconnecting with their children and other loved ones. This means they have the experience that will help you prepare for your reunion with your own kids. It won’t be an easy first meeting, but advice from other recovering addicts can help you prepare a more effective strategy.
Family Visits and Therapy in a Houston Rehab Program Will Help
In the earliest stages of recovery, you won’t be permitted to receive visits from family members, and that will include visits with your kids. This is essential to your recovery in that it distances you from the stress of having to deal with family members as you begin to focus on living a clean and sober life. Eventually, you will be permitted to have visitors, providing you with the first opportunity to reconnect with your children after getting clean. The visits will be monitored and your family will be instructed to focus on positive aspects of recovery, so this won’t be the time to delve into stressful family issues. Instead, you should focus more on reconnecting and enjoying the company of your loved ones.
Even though relationships are still strained at this point, your family will be happy to see that you’re getting well. Your children may respond differently, depending on their ages, so it’s important to take these first steps cautiously. Later, your recovery will involve family therapy and some sessions will include everyone in your immediate family. If there are specific issues that affect a certain family member, you may spend time in therapy with just that one individual. The therapy sessions that you share with another family member will explore past incidences, such as arguments or other acts you committed against that person while you were still using. If your actions caused significant problems, it may take more than a few therapy sessions in a Houston rehab program to mend the relationship. In that case, your therapist will likely encourage you to continue with family therapy with a therapist who has a private practice.
You will likely have to continue seeing an addiction counselor as well. The therapy and counseling you share with your children will help you to improve your relationship with them, while your children learn more effective ways of communicating with you. Even though the goal of family therapy isn’t to specifically train you to become a better parent, improving your parenting skills can be one benefit of going through this process. As a parent, you may have more concerns about addiction recovery. You can get those answers by calling our counselors at 833-364-0736. We’re available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help you get started with your recovery.