Many of our residents have severely damaged their personal relationships while active in their disease. At times, they have blamed or labeled those who are trying to get them help as the reason they drink or use drugs. This mentality—that other people are to blame—can permit the resident to avoid looking at his own behavior. Often a resident is in an intimate relationship that is detrimental to his chances in recovery.
Our work in this area begins with the families of our residents. We will work with them to improve the support system of our resident from one of enabling to one of supporting life choices that are conducive to his or her recovery. Next, we work with the resident to break the expectations he has placed on the people in his life. Our residents will come to see that their anger and resentment are a product of their own fears. Once the resident internalizes that their troubles have been of his own making, he or she has then begun to free themselves of the repetitive ways that that harmed those in their life. We teach each resident how to apply spiritual principles in every relationship, including intimate ones.
