Torchlight Recovery Group

A client once told us she spent years trying to fix her adult son’s drinking problem before she understood they were never hers to fix. She said those three sentences took her years to believe.

If you’re going through this too, and want to talk to someone who’s walked this road, Torchlight Recovery Group is here for you.

Your loved one is in addiction treatment and calls home, and you’re wondering what to say.

1. Do not turn the call into a family trial.

This is not the time to list every lie, fear, or night you stayed awake. Those conversations may need to happen, but that particular phone call is usually too early and too emotional to bring up everything.

2. Don’t promise what the house will look like when they come home.

A person in treatment may ask, “Can I come back?” “Will you pick me up?” “Are you still mad?” “Can we just move on?”

If the family answers too fast, they may agree to something they have not planned, discussed, or prepared to follow through on.

3. Keep the message simple.

“I’m glad you called.”
“I want you to stay where you are and keep working with the team.”
“We can talk about home plans with support, not in the middle of a phone call.”

That gives love without handing the whole plan back to your loved one.

4. Tell the treatment team what is happening.

If the calls are intense, repeated, angry, desperate, or focused on leaving early, the family should not carry that alone. The team needs to know what is being said at home, because the phone call is part of the treatment picture.

A family does not need a perfect script just need a plan before the phone even rings.

The addiction crisis is not always easy to spot.

It can be happening in the house with the nice kitchen, inside the person who gets to work on time, at the company event where drinking is treated like part of the job, or in a family that keeps explaining things away because everything still looks fine.

That is part of the trap.

A person can be functioning and still be losing control. A family can look put together and still be scared of what happens next.

Torchlight Recovery Group helps families nationwide plan the next step when alcohol or substance use is starting to take over behind closed doors.

If this is happening in your family, call 843.708.5748 or send a private message.

When addiction takes over a family, it can be hard to know who should do what next.

Torchlight Recovery Group works with families from crisis through continuing care, including intervention planning, treatment coordination, family guidance, recovery coaching and care management.

Based in Charleston, serving families nationwide.

If your family is trying to figure out next steps, call 843.708.5748 or message the page.

Do you think trauma gets taken seriously enough in addiction recovery?

For some people, substance use did not start with curiosity. It started with something they did not know how to carry.

Trauma does not excuse the damage addiction can cause, but it can help explain why the substance became a way to survive before it became something that took over.

Treatment has to look at more than the drug or alcohol. It has to look at the person, the family and what happened before everything became crisis.

Who can you call with questions after addiction treatment?

Continuing care gives you a case manager who stays in contact with your providers. Your family can also get guidance on how to support you at home.

Call Torchlight Recovery Group at 843.708.5748 to discuss support before discharge or once you’re home.

Based in Charleston, SC. Serving nationwide.