Your loved one has successfully completed treatment. You and your family have also sought treatment for your own issues. Is the addiction ordeal suffered by the addict and the family over? Has everyone been cured?

Of course not. There is no cure for addiction. There is, however, a way to arrest the disease and keep it in remission. And what is required to accomplish this is a life-long commitment to the recovery process.

For the addict the process begins after the discharge papers from the treatment center have been completed. Most, if not all, treatment centers will have a discharge plan for continued care. The discharge plan may include a transition to a sober living facility to ease the transfer from inpatient care into the real world again.

There might be a step down from inpatient to outpatient treatment. The facility might make recommendations to begin, or continue, attendance at local AA meetings. In that regard an AA sponsor might be suggested to help the addict through the Twelve Steps.

If the family has sufficient funds, there might be a request to treat with a therapist specializing in addiction.

On the family front, the treatment center might recommend Alanon to explore enabling or co-dependency issues. Addiction is a family disease and the family must be treated along with the addict. A private therapist might be suggested to deal with the long-standing trauma a family experiences while watching a family member suffer through their disease, as well as creating healthy boundaries should a relapse occur.

What is important to understand is that recovery, for both the addict and the family, is an ongoing process. There is no such thing as a cure. It is a commitment for life.

For more information regarding interventions, visit www.stevenlodgeinterventions.com or call 866 534 4443.