SUPPORTING RECOVERY FROM ADDICTION. INTERVIEW WITH DEAN GUSTAR, RELAPSE PREVENTION SPECIALIST

How does The Kusnacht Practice support patients when they return home after completing their treatment?

If you think of residential treatment as the training ground, this is where people start to establish new patterns and a new focus in their life. When they return home, it’s really when they're putting this training into action. So, that transition back home is a really key phase. It's a very, very vulnerable time in someone's recovery process. Those first few weeks back home. So we try and develop a plan alongside the client so that they have a good level of support to help manage that transition, a good level of support in the months after treatment so that they can consolidate the work that they've done here and then even build on it in the months to come.

How does The Kusnacht Practice involve families in the treatment?

We find the involvement of family and friends is a really supportive intervention. Anything we can do to improve communication within the family system is going to have a profound impact in terms of relapse prevention work. If we can involve the family in that process, the family can start to understand the relapse process and early warning signs when somebody may be at high risk of a relapse. And also how they can manage to contain relapses if they occur.

How crucial is the process of rebuilding trust with loved ones following the end of treatment?

Really no different to life in general. I mean, trust has to be earned. Often, people in early recovery have an expectation that people should trust them implicitly moving forward. But really, that's not how trust works; it has to be built up. And it's built up not through words but through changes in behaviour and attitudes. So, trust has to develop over time.

How can we take care of our mental and physical well-being during the treatment process?

Self-care is very important. Try to take care of your physical health. Have a good diet, get some good exercise, and maybe seek some counselling or some support for yourself during this process. Have an open dialogue with the rest of the family system and all the other friends in the system. And like I said before, education about substance use disorder can be very important. So, make sure you understand the risks of different substances. You understand the effects, you understand the recovery pathways. All these things can make the connection with the person of concern better, and sometimes they can ease anxiety. The more you know about the substance and its impact, the more it can ease anxiety.

How can family members support relatives who are dealing with substance use disorder?

Just be gentle with them. It's changing. Behaviour is very, very difficult. And there's going to be ups and downs on the road. And you want to create an atmosphere where, if they do hit a bump, they feel comfortable in telling you that you're not going to judge them, panic, or overreact. So you just have to be really calm and support them in the here and now and in the days and weeks after the relapse so they can really bounce back and learn from it.

What's your advice for loved ones when someone experiences a relapse?

I think we should respond to relapse with love, compassion, understanding, and support. We have to create an environment where the person of concern knows that if they have relapsed, nobody's going to panic. Nobody's going to stop loving them. Nobody's going to think that this is a failure. Often, a relapse is part of the recovery journey, and the learning that we can get from a relapse can reinforce recovery moving forward. So compassion, love, and support.