Addiction Help Tips 2021 (for yourself or an addicted loved one)

Getting help for an addiction can be a pretty intimidating process. And so if you're thinking about getting some help for yourself, or you're trying to help or encourage a loved one to get some help, this video is for you. Because it's all about how to make the process way less intimidating, daunting and scary. Not only that, but we're also going to talk about how to find the best fit and the most effective kind of help for your specific situation. For those of you who are new here, welcome to Put the shovel down. This YouTube channel is all about helping you understand the science and psychology of addiction. Because I want you to be able to get back to living the life that you want to live. Alright, so our topic, how to find the best fit, the best kind of help and how to make it a lot less scary and intimidating. You see, the biggest, scariest thing about getting some kind of help for an addiction is feeling like you're going to be forced into making a decision that you're not sure if you want to make or feeling like that you're gonna have to go to some place for 30, 60 or 90 days, be locked up, be told what you can and can't do. That's a pretty scary, daunting thought for anyone. But I want you to know that neither one of those things have to be the case. If you're watching this video for you, that means you already have some level of motivation to some help or make some changes. In fact, it means you have a pretty good amount because you're already getting some help just from watching this video. So you're already on the right track. And if you're watching this because you're trying to help a loved one find recovery, if you're trying to go with them, with the idea that you're gonna have to go away to treatment for like a year long and be locked up and all this, it's gonna be pretty scary. It's gonna be hard to get someone to be committed to doing that. And then when they're not willing to say, yeah, I'll do it, then you're gonna say you're not willing and you really want this and you're going to get yourself frustrated and them. So what I would say to you is just find a good place to start. It doesn't have to be the end all, be all, doesn't have to be the big cat daddy of all best treatments ever. But getting started is the important part. And sometimes taking a little step in the right direction helps you feel more confident to take the next little step in the right direction. Now, if you already know that you need the biggest cat daddy of all treatments ever, then I'm gonna believe you. I'm gonna say that you're right. If someone tells me they need to go away to big long term residential treatment, I don't argue because I know that no one comes to that conclusion easily. In fact, they've thought about it for a long time and they've probably tried a lot of other things because it's just not something that people really tend to want to do. So if you already know that, that is wonderful and that's great. If you. If you don't know that that's the case for you, or you're just not sure you want to do that, then there are some other options to consider that are way less scary. You know, maybe individual counseling is a good place to start because maybe you just want to think about what you want to do. Maybe you want to think through whether or not you feel like you have an addiction or not, or you want to decide what is the best pathway for you. And individual counseling can be great fit for that. Now, if you're watching this video for a loved one, I will tell you this. If you're sending your loved one who may be struggling with an addiction to an individual counselor, but they don't want to talk to that person about addiction, it's not so much that that's a bad idea, But I don't want you to expect that your loved one who doesn't want to talk about addiction, if they go talk to this other counselor, you know, once a week, that that's really going to fix the problem. But what it might can do is help someone get comfortable with the process. Allow someone to, you know, think through whether or not they have a problem, or think through whether or not they want to take some bigger or different kinds of steps towards recovery. A lot of times I call individual counseling, I call it pre treatment. Now, in some cases, that's all a person needs. You know, they don't need a higher level of treatment. Maybe they go to individual counseling, but they go to some kind of support group, or they have a sponsor, a mentor, a coach, or they're in a church program or something like that. And that combination may be enough by itself. Especially if you're dealing with someone that's fairly motivated. They realize they have a problem and they really do want to change. That combination can definitely work if you're dealing with someone who has a problem but doesn't really want to change and needs to make steps. Individual counseling might not be enough, like I said, to get them to be sober, like now and forever, but it might be enough to help get them to take more steps and move in the direction. Now, there are two really important factors that you need to remember when you're deciding whether or not to take this step towards getting a counselor. One, finding the right fit. You want to find somebody who's the right fit for you. And that doesn't just mean somebody who's a specialist in what you deal with. Yes, that is important, and I think it's helpful to ask those questions, like, if you're wanting help for an addiction, then find somebody who treats addiction, obviously. But another important thing that you need to think about when trying to find the right fit is the right personality. Because above and beyond anything else, counseling is a relationship. And if the relationship doesn't work, if it doesn't click, if it doesn't fit right, it's just probably not going to be effective. And not every counselor is the right fit for every person. It doesn't mean it's a bad counselor. It might just be the wrong fit. Now, there are some things that you can consider, like, would I be more comfortable talking to a male or female? Or maybe that doesn't even really matter to you. And if not, that's okay, too. It's just taking those initial steps. When you finally made up your mind, or when your loved one has finally kind of come to conclusion that they're ready and willing to do this. You need to take steps rather quickly because their willingness and motivation can change. The fear and intimidation factor can come back and you can start finding yourself backsliding. You know, you have these little moments where you're like, I need to do something about this. I need to talk to somebody. And you're kind of ready to make a change. If you wait too long past that point, that is going to go away. It's a natural part of the process. So while the flame is there, you need to take action steps. Go ahead and get something set up. If you're trying to help a loved one, go ahead and at least schedule an appointment. You don't want to miss this sort of window of opportunity because the window doesn't stay open very long. If you're watching this for a loved one, I suggest you start thinking about some options that might be really good for your loved one so that in case they do get to the point where they want some help, you have some options that may be a Good fit. And you may say, oh, I've looked into it. I think this or this or this. What do you think? You know, give them a choice. Give them some options. If you're looking for yourself, then you may want to go ahead and make some phone calls. A lot of times you can talk to a counselor before you ever even go in. Just to feel, just to get a feel for if it's the right fit. It doesn't have to be scary. Going to a counselor doesn't mean that you've made any decision one way or the other. The counselor can't make you do or not do anything that you don't want to do. A counselor's job is literally just to align with you and help you work on whatever, whatever it is that you want to work on. Maybe you're watching this video and you're already doing kind of good in your recovery, or you're in a program or your recovery stabilized, but you feel like that you still have some depression or anxiety or trauma that's unresolved and you want to work on that. Individual counseling might be the best place to work on those kinds of issues. And you don't always get that individualized care in an addiction treatment center because so much of it is done in groups, which when it comes to addiction, I think is really great. And groups can be super helpful. But some issues really are better talked about one on one. I think we can all agree with that. Now, if you or your loved one is ready to make that move and you're not sure where to start, then I'd like to suggest looking at BetterHelp. BetterHelp is actually an online counseling service that you can sign up for anytime, day or night, and they will match you with a counselor. They're going to ask you a lot of questions online. It's super easy to find, find the right fit. Some of the best benefits are you can make that choice anytime. Maybe you're watching this video, it's 2 o' clock in the morning, and you're like, okay, I'm ready. I need to make the appointment before I change my mind. You can go online and do that. You don't have to wait till the office is open. You don't have to wait to get a call back. You can go ahead and take that step anytime you're ready. Which is one of my favorite things about BetterHelp. Another really great benefit for using that service, because if you do get paired with the wrong counselor for whatever reason, maybe it's not the right fit. Or maybe you plateau and you need something different. You can change counselors at any point, and it is super easy thing to do. And not only that, but you really aren't tied in for any length of time. I think when you go to BetterHelp, they ask you to sign up for a month at a time, but you. But you're not tied into that. You can officially stop anytime you want to stop. And it's not like this big, long, giant commitment. In fact, with better help, their sessions are usually a little bit shorter, and it can feel a little less intimidating. If you're nervous about it. To talk to someone online, it's really not that different than in person, but there just feels like this little extra layer of gay or privacy or choice when it's online because you're like, if I just want to run out of there, I can just close my computer screen. I don't have to talk anymore if you're that nervous about it. And lastly, and probably my most favorite part about BetterHelp is that there are multiple ways to communicate with your counselor. You see, this happens in our office all the time. You know, someone's like, man, I really needed this session last week, and I had so much, but actually, I kind of already figured that out. And so with better help, if you need to communicate with your counseling, you know, via email or a chat message, because you have a quick question or you need some quick piece of advice about something that is an option available to you, and it's just included in the price. So it doesn't even cost you Anything extra. Now, BetterHelp might not be the end all, be all for everything you need, but it is a great place to start. And one additional little bonus is betterhelp is a sponsor of this channel. So if you decide you want to use their services, use the link in the description of this video because you'll get a discount and you'll be supporting our channel. So it's like, bonus. Now, I know you might be thinking, okay, Amber, you're only recommending that because they're sponsoring your channel. Well, not really. I've given it a lot of thought. In fact, BetterHelp approached me about making some kind of connection. And. And I said, I don't know. And what they did was allow me to try it out. So guess what I did? I went through the entire process from start to finish. I went in just like a new client. I answered questions. I said, I want to talk to somebody who specializes in addiction. I got to really personalize what I wanted and what I needed. And they matched me with a counselor who met all of those criteria. And I didn't say who I was or that I was a counselor or anything. Like, I really went in as a client. I wanted to know exactly what the process was, Because I don't want to recommend anything to you that I don't feel like is a good choice. I felt better. Help to be very flexible, and they have great communication. In fact, most of the counselors take their time to just check in with you at random and see how you're doing. And when it comes to addiction recovery, sometimes that's helpful because you might be struggling, you might not want to reach out. But when you get that message, it says, hey, checking in, you might be like, well, I do kind of have this going on, and it might open that window for you when you were a little nervous about doing that for yourself. So if you feel like individual counseling is the right fit for you and you're ready to take some steps, click the link below and you can get started on that process right away. But if you're not sure individual counseling is the place you want to start, then you can download my treatment options guide, where I literally explain to you every single kind of addiction treatment out there, from the big cat daddies to the little supports. And that's definitely going to help you make some educated decisions about what is the right fit. Because I don't want you to get lost in this whole giant addiction treatment system, which I'm telling you can be pretty overwhelming. And it's a little bit difficult to tell just by someone's website what you're going to get. I feel like all the websites are the same. I call it like the butterflies and oak trees effect. They all say the same thing, and it's hard to figure out what's. What, what's really good and what's not. So definitely look through that treatment options guide. You can download it for free. Link in the description. And up next is my playlist, all about understanding all the options available to you. Because I really don't want you to waste any time or money on the wrong things. I want you to make an informed, strategic decision.