You may be experiencing a range of emotions if your sibling is struggling with substance use.  It’s not uncommon to be anxious, fearful, angry or resentful so if you’re feeling this way, you’re not alone. It’s important to focus on your siblings’ strengths – developing resiliency and coping skills and helping foster personal growth and healthy relationships. It may also be helpful to provide your sibling with information about substance use. Here are some resources that others in this situation have found helpful and we hope you will too.

Reading

Reading a book may not be the first thing that comes to mind, but Beyond Addiction by Dr. Jeffrey Foote is a wonderful resource for families. He talks about how to have a conversation without getting into arguments and ways to encourage healthier behaviors.

Allies in Recovery also offers some great resources and worksheets as to how to suggest treatment while attending to your own self-care and more. Check out this link for more books on how you can help your sibling.

Treatment Options

Personal counseling may be helpful to you to deal with the emotional ups and downs you’re likely facing as your sibling suffers from substance use. Your insurance company or Psychology Today can offer counselors to work with you – just be sure they have training in addiction.

If you are seeking outpatient or inpatient programs for your sibling use this treatment locator offering programs across the country. After using the search criteria, you will still have to call the programs to make sure they are a good fit for your loved one.

And, if your sibling has other mental health issues, be sure any program you select treats both problems in an integrated way. If your sibling is suffering from co-occurring disorders like substance use and depression, this guide may be helpful in learning about mental health first aid.