1. What Your Loved One Wants You to Know About Their Addiction From their mouths to your ears

2. The Shores Mission Statement To provide a safe, nurturing and loving environment for our clients to heal from addiction. We will treat all phases of the disease using the most current medical, physiological, psychological holistic and spiritual approaches available to a team of licensed and board certified professionals.

3. The Shores Philosophy Is based upon the theory that addiction to alcohol and other substances is a multi-fold disease: physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological. We believe that the recovery of every aspect of the affected persons’ lives, as well as the lives of their loved ones. We also realize that healing can be a very difficult and painful process-much the same as recovery from any other illness.

4. What your loved one wants you to know about addiction: It’s Debilitating We are Powerless over it! It’s Incurable It’s Life-threatening People think we are stupid and weak…we are not! The drugs are just the cover up for a much deeper issues

5. Addiction is not something you can just stop! It is a disease Recovery is a life-style, not a cure It is paralyzing It can destroy yourself and your family It can be overcome with motivation and the right tools

6. Addiction can be genetic It is a deadly and progressive disease We are not our mistakes-we are not bad people It’s a family disease, it effects everyone! Addiction is a temporary solution to a permanent problem Addiction makes simple things hard

7. Addiction causes me to feel shame and isolate myself I push loved ones away My drugging took precedence over everything I need to learn to ask for help if I want to get better

8. How You Can Support Your Loved Ones in Recovery Learn about my illness Maintain a reasonable level of concern View me as more then just an addict Understand it is a disease which requires a program Call me once in awhile, visit me, text me Show me unconditional love

9. Listen to what I have to say Learn and look for signs of relapse Go to meetings with me Don’t be a bad influence on me Let me be open with my feelings Give me time to heal Be patient with me while I try to figure this out.

10. Believe in me Understand I need help from other people Understand I need to be involved with a community of recovery Drive me to meetings when I don’t have a car or license or ride Try not to micro-manage my recovery Be there when I need to talk.

11. Just listen…I don’t need you to try to fix me, sometimes I just need to talk Be supportive in healthy ways Be vulnerable with me, admit your weaknesses to me, the times you failed