What happens after Detox and rehab?

Many years ago, my Uncle "Mac" was leading a talk on alcoholism after being asked to serve on the Government Committee looking at the whole effects it has on a person. As part of that, he addressed the subject of it being a "family disease" - one person doesn't have it in isolation, it affects the children, the spouse, the parents, - I would also say the work colleagues, the friends, and all the people that someone interacts with. 

So in an ideal world, and with many fantastic facilities now available for detox and rehab for all addictions, what happens next? 

A newly clean person returns to their home changed and full of hope, full of dreams, full of determination and clean of not just the addiction, but also of the thoughts and feelings around that. 

And returns sometimes to a family where hurt feelings have been left - trust has been broken - words have been said and punishments made - and dashed hopes on either side easily lead to paranoia and fear - disappointment and hurt - and confusion and communication issues. 

So, in my world, the options following the hard work that a family has put into getting someone clean and the hard work that someone has put into getting clean - now deserve a bit of help for each other - a unity of thoughts, of fears, of hopes, of dreams, of understandings, of behavioural changes - but most of all, of hope.

A hope for both sides - a hope that the family can support, can welcome, can trust and can believe in the person returning - and, for that person, a hope that they can rebuild the trust, that they can overcome the worry, the concern, the fear, the past, the scary stuff that happened and the fear of it returning again ... 

Although I don't work within detox and rehabilitation as I don't have the facilities available here - I do work in the family space to work with you all in the returning time - to facilitate these hard and open conversations where vulnerabilities are shared between you all - and communication is hard, stuttering and takes time - but brings hope and, above all, the communication of actions brings trust back. 

Horses have been central to this work for many years, from the work done by Uncle Mac and my dad when I was a very young child, to seeing the changes, the strength and the support that they give to those in this area - and the freedom and space they give to the children to talk as well - that I can only welcome you to come and work in this arena with them as others have done before you.

Consider a break here, in rural West Ireland, away from everyone else and everything else - to work on rebuilding your lives together after the worries, concerns, fears and fighting for improvement you have all put in to making a success so far - and come and relax, reconnect, restore and regrow yourselves and your relationships.