The Importance of Having a Strong Support System During Addiction Recovery

At Victory Recovery Partners, we help our adult patients overcome their addictions and lead healthy and positive lives. Now operating five locations on Long Island, New York including locations in Shirley, Farmingville, Massapequa Park, Hempstead, and Hicksville, we have gained experience and expertise to know what works best for our patients in helping them achieve sobriety. We have learned that having a strong “support system” can greatly increase the chances of having a successful, long-lasting recovery. 

Your support system can be made up of anyone who you have trust in and confidence in to help you make the right decisions while battling your addiction and substance use. For example, patients may have close friends or family members that make up their support system. However, it must be noted that unfortunately not all of one’s friends and family members provide proper support. For example, if you have a friend who enables you to use drugs and alcohol (or if being around this person triggers your desire to use), you should consider eliminating that person from your support system. Additionally, while family members who you are close to may mean well (and think they are helping you), they may provide you with advice and guidance that is counter-productive to your recovery. For example, a parent may be over-protective causing you to not fully take responsibility for your actions and behaviors. 

With all of this said, family members and friends you can trust and rely on can help you in many ways. One way in which this can help you is by providing you with some support and sense of belonging. While going through your recovery process, you may feel a bit isolated. Having friends and family nearby (in today’s world even via Zoom or FaceTime), can make you feel like you do not have to go through recovery alone. At Victory, our providers and counselors do their best to provide a comforting and welcoming environment for our patients. However, we do recognize that a long-time friend or trusted family member can provide a level of comfort that truly helps the patient feel cared for. 

A strong support system can also help you with daily tasks ranging from assistance with grocery shopping, to cleaning your house, or even with transportation. For example, you may not feel comfortable driving while you are beginning your recovery journey. Both your mind and body (physically) may not feel just quite right. Having others you can rely on during this time would be crucial to ensuring an effective recovery. 

At Victory, we often have group therapy, which provides a safe, judgement-free zone for our patients to share their issues and obstacles, and their achievements and successes. Group therapy provides patients with a feeling of having a true support system, as they are with others who are going through a similar situation. This is particularly helpful for those who do not have a strong support system outside of the group – some of our patients do not have friends or family members that they can trust or rely on for help and guidance. 

Victory Recovery Partners is a network of addiction/recovery centers on Long Island, New York. With locations in Massapequa Park, Hempstead, Hicksville, Shirley, and Farmingville, we provide total care under one roof; this includes medication-assisted treatment, and psychiatric, behavioral health, and wellness services. The importance of having a strong support system when beginning your journey to recovery is critical to having a successful recovery. Your support system can be made up of friends and family with whom you trust to be by your side during both the good and bad times. However, we do recognize that not all of our patients have friends and family that qualify as positive members of a support system. Therefore, through our individual one-on-one counseling and group therapy, our services provide an environment where our patients feel like they belong and most importantly, are accepted for who they are and what they’re going through. For more information on Victory, please visit our website www.victoryrp.com