Helping Family Members When They Need It
At certain stages of your life, you will be in closer contact with your family than anyone else. And though familiarity often means you don’t pay as much attention to things, there are still going to be times when you need to observe closely and help family members when they need it the most. They may not even want your help, but you may feel responsible for giving them aid.
There may be times when you need to suggest rehab for them, or perhaps loan them some money if they’re in trouble. Then there’s always giving emotional support when it’s helpful, as well as looking for signs of depression. The point is, just because they are family doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat them as though they’re also friends in need.
Suggesting Rehab
If you have a family member who’s struggling with addiction, whether it is with alcohol or other drugs, then you need to find the appropriate time to suggest going to rehab. There are different types of rehab. There are various financial considerations when it comes to rehab. But time, energy, and money mean very little when given in opposition to the fact that you could lose a family member to addiction.
Loaning Family Money
Though it isn’t always the best idea right out of hand, loaning family members money may be one way to help them. Especially if they are going through a rough patch where you can tell they are trying to make ends meet and situations are just against them, there’s nothing wrong with setting up some agreement to loan the money temporarily. Just make sure that there is some feasible way for them to pay back, or else just don’t expect to get that money back to keep peace in the family.
Giving Emotional Support
If a family member doesn’t need your money and doesn’t need your advice, then it might be that they just need your emotional support. You need to find a way to let them speak without judging them, and just this act alone may bring them back from some troubling emotional state.
Looking for Signs of Depression
If you see signs of depression in a family member, you should act sooner than later. The deeper someone gets into a depression, the harder it is to come out. And since you’re intimately familiar with the patterns of behavior that your family members have, you can see when those patterns start to change. If you feel like people are going through a depression and you have some opportunity to help them, you should take steps to be there for them. Just listening is one of the best things you can do to start the conversation, and then you may want to encourage them to view websites of places that might be able to help them as a next step to recovering and regaining control.