Staying on the Path to Recovery During the Holiday Season

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As we approach the holiday season, we believe it is important to acknowledge the challenge of staying on the path to recovery during this time. From normalizing potential triggers to providing practical steps, we’d like to help prepare you and your family to stay on the path to recovery during the holiday season.

Potential Triggers

• Family Gatherings: From extended family to family friends, the holiday season is known for increased gatherings. Family conflict is more likely to arise around this time, and as a result, childhood and family trauma are often triggered. It is best to anticipate this and work to respond differently than you normally do.
• Holiday Parties: A celebration for one person is not necessarily a celebration for everyone. It is no secret that many holiday parties include alcohol and other harmful substances and behaviors on the menu. 
• Extended time off from work or school: While many celebrate extended breaks from school and work, some may not consider the structure and community that work and school provide for someone in recovery, and how difficult it may be to be without for an extended amount of time. 
• Postponed Recovery Meetings: Sponsors and meeting leaders want to spend time with their loved ones too during this time. However, that doesn’t minimize the impact that a canceled or postponed meeting may have on you. We discuss below how to plan for this.
• Old friends back in town: Many times, old friends means old habits.
• Environmental Triggers: A room, a store, a building, a house – these may all have significant memories attached to them that we won’t think about until we’re back in that environment again. 

Practical Tips

1. Plan ahead. Before you visit friends or return home, it’s important to have a plan. What gatherings will you attend? What will you do when you need a break? Who will you call if you need help? A healthy lifestyle is not something we can afford to leave to chance – we need a plan. 
2. Have an exit strategy. If you become overwhelmed or are on the brink of relapse, it’s helpful to have a way out. Have an exit strategy to avoid potentially risky situations.
3. Attend recovery-friendly events. Don’t feel pressured to be in an environment that is not conducive to your recovery.  In our work with clients in recovery, we’ve recognized a pattern of belonging and value often being associated with the draw to addictive behaviors. For example, most of us know when a behavior is unhealthy, but if we are engaging in it with someone else or a group of people and are validated for it, it (at least temporarily) fulfills our very natural need to belong or to be in a community of some sort. The other side of that looks like being shunned or “disowned” for not engaging in the behavior or for setting boundaries.
4. Talk to your sponsor (if you have one). It can be tempting to neglect your resources during the holiday season, but let them help you. Discuss with your sponsor ahead of time if they plan to be unavailable for any length of time during the holiday season so that you can plan accordingly.
5. Set boundaries. As you probably already know by now, not everyone has a shared goal of healthy living. Even still, your recovery is your responsibility. In order to protect the progress you’ve made, incorporate boundaries that have proven to be helpful for you and even others. 
6. Be accountable. Who are the people that you know will tell you the truth? Who are the people that support your recovery? These are the people we encourage you to pick up the phone for when they call, and reach out when you need them. You don’t have to do this alone – it’s best if you don’t.
7. Engage in community service. Think outside of yourself. How can you encourage someone else during the holiday season? Consider volunteering your time to give to someone or a group of people in need. This is a healthy way to stay productive, occupied, and around others who care.

How You Can Support Someone in Recovery During the Holidays

One of the best indicators for success during the recovery journey is a supportive community – that’s where you come in. Being of support to someone in recovery does not require you to have all the answers or even to fully understand their struggle. Support can look like listening, giving honest feedback, honoring boundaries, and being empathetic. With listening, we often underestimate the power of being a listening ear. When giving honest feedback, sometimes we think we may be helping by not telling the truth in love. However, we are actually playing a part in hurting our loved ones when we are not honest with them. It is best practice to honor the boundaries that your loved one has set around their recovery. While you may not understand why your loved one in recovery doesn’t want to go somewhere or why they have to leave, it is important for you to honor the boundaries that they have set for themselves. Try to resist pressuring them into doing anything or going somewhere they have expressed that they don’t want to. Finally, we encourage you to be empathetic as your loved one navigates recovery. While you may not be able to 100% relate to their experiences, you can probably relate to a way they have felt or have been hurt. 

Capstone Treatment Center offers residential therapy programs for young men 18-26 and teenage boys 14-17 with a wide range of mental health struggles, compulsions, addictions, self-destructive behaviors, and more. Every young man that enters our program receives a labrador retriever puppy on admission and takes that puppy home with them when they graduate. Capstone provides the best client to therapist ratio in the country that devotes the necessary time, energy, and personal attention to our clients and families to develop the level of relationship that is vital to success.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]