Don’t do it alone!

Losing important relationships can happen when you are using drugs or alcohol. This article explains that doing what you can, in an effort to maintain relationships may be one of the most important things you can do.

And just to make things even more complex, sometimes having fights and arguments with people close to you can make you feel like wanting to use in the first place. Despite all this and as hard as it may seem, having supportive people around you is really important.

In fact, although everyone has their own journey for many young people who have learned to manage their use, a good network of friends, family or community is one of the most important things that helped them. Youth workers and support services often try to involve family or other community members when supporting a young person (if they want this). 

You don’t have to be drug free to maintain your relationships. Sometimes it’s the small things that can help keep you connected. These can include

It doesn’t mean you need to have “perfect relationships” that support your goals in every way-even friends who use drugs can be important supporters of you (having friends are important no matter what) and even when families are doing it tough, they can find ways to support each other.

Things you can do to engage with others:

• Saying hello, good morning or good night
• Sitting down to watch a movie or eating food together
• Keeping in contact in some way

(Check out this simple app ReachOut from the Young and Well CRC which encourages appreciation of friends and others!)

Having supportive people around you is really important.

You can’t control how others will treat and respond to you but don’t deliberately cut yourself off from family, friends and other people if you are struggling. It might be hard but try to keep good lines of communication open with those close to you-it may be the most important thing in the end!

We recommend Reachout for some great resources to help you with relationships.

Check out this article about managing conflict with parents ReachOut – Managing Conflict