How to Talk to Your Friends and Family
Many women become nervous when they think about how friends and family might react when they find out about them being in methadone treatment while pregnant.
There can be both benefits and challenges of telling people about your treatment. Take some time to think about these benefits and consequences.
If you want to do this alone, take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side, write the benefits of telling friends and family about your treatment. On the other side, write down possible challenges you might have to face.
You might find support by talking to other patients, counselors, or someone else who understands where you’re coming from. If you do choose to tell others about your treatment, here are some ideas you might find helpful:
- Let these people know how important they are to you and that you really want their support.
- Ask your friends and family what their worries are.
- Decide who is most likely to understand your situation. Then ask them to help you talk to other people who might not be so understanding.
- Invite them to a counseling session. This way your counselor can support you and help educate your partner, friends, and family.
- Think about how you’ll feel and what you’ll do if someone doesn’t support your treatment. Make a plan of whom you can call in case things don’t go well.
- Go over this web site with them! There’s a lot of information in here that should be able to help them understand the basics of methadone and pregnancy. Often, people make a lot of assumptions about methadone and pregnancy and once they have some information about it, they tend to be more supportive.
- Is your partner or father of the child using? If so it’s going to be important to let your counselor know. If they are interested in treatment, your counselor can help find a place for them or provide a list of local self-help (NA, AA, etc.) meetings. It’s important for them to receive help not only for themselves, but so they can be a support to you in your recovery. Women tend to have more success not using when their partner is not using.