Drug Rehab Center

In part 5 of Emotional Wreckage, Cathy talks about how family members can move forward after their addicted loved one returns from treatment. More importantly, family members ask how they can trust again. Cathy emphasizes the importance of recovering addicts to take ownership and accountability for their behaviour and commitments.

In the 4th instalment of Emotional Wreckage, Cathy Patterson-Sterling explains what family members and spouses can do after a loved one returns from treatment. Untangling the issues involves family members figuring out how their relationship to the addicted individual has changed now that he/she has returned from treatment and is beginning his/her recovery journey. Family members need to ask themselves if they are adjusting to life after treatment. For example, am I still trying to fix everything? Am I allowing him/her to take responsibility for the choices he/she makes in life? For family members, recovery is an opportunity to put their loved one in recovery back in the driver seat of life.

In part 3 of her series on Emotional Wreckage, Cathy Patterson-Sterling discusses the ‘breaking point’ – a time where there is a potential for growth that arises out of a crisis. When families are collapsing under the burden of addiction, an opportunity to rebuild co-arises with the collapse. Cathy alludes to the metaphor of the phoenix bird that appears out of the flames of destruction.

In part 2 of the Emotional Wreckage series, Cathy talks about how people returning home from residential addiction treatment often prefer to avoid talking about their addiction and the past. While turning over a new leaf may seem like a good idea for the recovering addict, it can be a problem for family members trying to heal from the impact of their loved one’s addiction. Family members may still have unaddressed hurt and resentment. When a loved one returns from treatment and wants to forget about the past and ‘turn over a new leaf’, family members can feel powerless and angry that their needs are not being considered.

Cathy Patterson-Sterling, in part one of her six-part series, looks at the emotional wreckage facing families impacted by addiction. Emotional wreckage is like an accident scene where there is a collision between people that ensues from a family member’s addiction. Emotional wreckage can include financial, legal, and relationship damage. The crisis point (or tipping point) is the time before someone gets help for his/her addiction where addiction is no longer a problem that can be swept under the rug and ignored.

By Cathy Patterson-Sterling, MA, RCC
Director of Family Services
Sunshine Coast Health Center

In this video Cathy explains the importance of ‘accountability partners’ in recovery. For example, do you have a recovery team of supportive family members and friends who are committed to your recovery? Are you going to meetings and developing friendships there with like-minded, committed individuals? Do you have a counsellor? If not, then having a recovery plan that consists primarily of playing golf may not be sufficient.

Cathy Patterson-Sterling, Director of Family Services for the Sunshine Coast Health Centre, shares why it can be helpful to focus on extra-curricular activities and not just treatment while undergoing addiction treatment.

Cathy Patterson-Sterling, Director of Family Services for the Sunshine Coast Health Centre, shares why forgetting that you have an addiction can be one of the biggest dangers in addiction recovery.

Cathy Patterson Sterling, Director of Family Services for the Sunshine Coast Health Centre, shares why it is important to not make life in recovery a boring, mundane life. It is important, however, to look at activities in recovery and see what they are contributing to a recovery lifestyle.

Cathy Patterson Sterling, Director of Family Services for the Sunshine Coast Health Centre, discusses whether a loved one can be doing too well after addiction recovery. Cathy discusses the ‘pink cloud effect’ where everything in early recovery can all seem so new and exciting.