One of the most effective ways to champion your own recovery efforts is to become an advocate for the addiction recovery process. While this is no way means you have to shout the intimate details of your entire recovery journey from the rooftops, it is important to remember that your journey and its success can be a guiding light for others that are eager to turn their lives around as well. There are many ways to advocate for recovery, but it all starts with making a pledge to try to influence just one person to seek treatment, get help, or change their mindset about addiction and recovery. In attempting to get an individual to seek treatment, you can use your own experiences with addiction treatment as a great icebreaker. If you know a friend or family member that may be suffering from the same addiction you suffered from, they are an optimal person to work with. Your familiarity with them, combined with their understanding of your own journey, should make it easier to share your experiences and your own treatment process with them. If the individual is not a close family friend or relative, it is still advisable that you use your own experiences when speaking with them to make them feel more comfortable and hopefully open up. Share the story of your initial apprehension towards treatment, what encouraged you to finally decide to go, and, most importantly, how treatment changed your life! In encouraging an individual to get help, you can use many of the same tactics, but it is important to place a premium on the idea of therapy and counseling. One would generally encourage someone that may not be entirely addicted to a substance yet or someone that may have resorted to using recently as a means of battling their demons to get help. As such, it pays to refrain from accusing this individual of being addicted or to suggest that they are too far gone to help themselves. Instead, focusing on the benefits of therapy can be a great way to encourage them to consider it. Finally, in encouraging a person to change their mindset about addiction and recovery, it is important to stress that the stigma of addiction is a societal construct that discourages people from seeking help. As long as the world continues to see victims of addiction as addicts and users, it will be incredibly difficult to convince those that need the help that they can actually get it. Highlight the fact that by changing your own mindset and seeing those that used drugs as nothing but people with a sickness, you were able to actualize your own recovery quicker!
Before you can advocate for recovery, you must first experience it yourself. If you are suffering from addiction, please, don’t hesitate to call Oceanfront Recovery at (877)279-1777. Life is too short to waste it.
