Addiction Stigma: Breaking The Silence

For many individuals, the reality of seeking help and support for addiction can be a challenging. Not only this, but there is a fear of what others think that often adds to the pressures of seeking help for addiction. Due to these fears, the physical symptoms of addiction can quickly become overshadowed but this silent force, known as addiction stigma.

Stigma is the ‘silent barrier’ that often prevents people reaching out for help. This in turn leads to families struggling with isolation or feeling like there is a need to choose between their reputation or their life.

At New Leaf Recovery, we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to seek addiction support. We aim to break the stigma surrounding addiction and recovery in order to help individuals focus on overcoming the physical and mental impacts in a supportive environment.

What is Addiction Stigma?

Stigma is a set of negative societal beliefs and prejudices that are held against specific groups of people. When it comes to addiction, these beliefs often manifest in numerous ways, including that substance use is a ‘lack of willpower’ or a ‘moral failing’. Because of these notions, two barriers often form:

1. Social stigma: This includes judgement or discrimination from those around you including friends and family, or healthcare professionals that you see or employers.
2. Self-stigma: Once negative labels start to be believed by individuals, this can lead to deep feelings of shame and the belief that they don’t deserve to seek support in recovery from addiction.

At New Leaf Recovery, we do not believe in these addiction stigmas. Instead, we believe that everyone deserves to find a brighter future that is free from addiction. We work to support individuals and their families to overcome these stigmas, and the physical or mental impacts of addiction without feeling shame.

Speak with our team today for yourself or a loved one to discuss how we can support you in addiction recovery.

Where Does Stigma Come From?

Addiction stigma is not new. It is deeply rooted in history with outdated perspectives, including:

• The ‘Moral Model’: Throughout history, addiction has typically been viewed as a character flaw as opposed to a complex health condition that requires support.
• Language: The labels that have been used for those struggling with addiction, such as ‘junkie’ or ‘alcoholic’ can often strip away an individual’s humanity, making it harder for the individual to be seen as a person behind their struggles.
• Media Portrayals: For many decades, film and TV have sensationalised addiction, portraying it as a dangerous and untrustworthy state.

These deep rooted stigmas have proven difficult to break, with people often trying to hide their struggles as opposed to seeking help and support to overcome them.

At New Leaf Recovery, we work with our clients, helping them to break the silence, seek support in addiction rehabilitation and find a brighter future for themselves.

How New Leaf Challenges Addiction Stigma

Here at New Leaf Recovery, we don’t treat addiction, we work to support and treat the person. We aim to challenge addiction stigma, building this into how we approach detoxification and rehabilitation.

We use language that doesn’t define a client by their struggles. Our clients are not ‘addicts’, they are an individual struggling with a substance use disorder and needs support in recovery. This change in language helps to restore dignity and focus on the healing process of rehabilitation.

As a private residential rehabilitation centre, we provide a safe and supportive space that feels like a home as opposed to a clinical environment. This can help clients to feel like they are worthy of respect and comfort, breaking the shame cycle that often develops as part of addiction stigma.

A key part of our rehabilitation programme aims to help clients understand their brain chemistry and how this is impacted by substance use. We aim to help clients understand that they have a manageable condition that can be treated and provide them with long-term sobriety through rehabilitative therapies and techniques.

Sadly, we often find that stigma can live in the family home due to a lack of understanding. We work to support families in their understanding, working with them to replace blame with empathy and create a safe, supportive space post-rehabilitation.

It is vital that addiction stigma is challenged in order to break the silence around it. We believe that this starts with those struggling with substance use, as well as their loved ones. If you would like to seek support for yourself or a loved one, reach out to our team today for a confidential chat about how New Leaf Recovery can support you.

How We Support Addiction Rehabilitation

Recovery is about far more than just stopping substance use; it is about rebuilding a healthier life. At New Leaf Recovery, we work to support clients in recovery and rehabilitation from numerous substances, providing detoxification and highly effective rehabilitation programmes designed to give individuals a strong foundation for sobriety.

Medically Supported Detoxification

The first step of rehabilitation is detoxification. At New Leaf Recovery, we provide a medically supported detoxification process with our team on hand 24/7 to help clients through the withdrawal stages as comfortably as possible.

Rehabilitative Therapies

Following our detox programme, we provide a series of rehabilitative therapies that help clients to reset physically, mentally and emotionally. Each therapy that we offer is an effective, proven technique in rehabilitation, helping individuals to develop new skills and techniques for coping with their stress and processing their emotions. Our therapies include:

• Meditation
• Art Therapy
• Movement Therapy
• Counselling
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)
• Health & Well-Being
• 1-2-1 & Group Therapy

Whilst staying with us for longer rehab programmes, we also encourage clients to start the 12 Steps Programme. This is a structured pathway that helps clients work through honesty, self-reflection, accountability and rebuilding their life post-rehabilitation.

Find out more about all of our rehabilitative therapies online or contact our team today to discuss how our 7 day through to 28 day rehab programmes can support you or a loved one in recovery.

Rehab Aftercare

It is always key to remember that recovery doesn’t stop when you leave rehabilitation. At New Leaf, we provide a series of aftercare sessions for those who want to continue working on their recovery whilst stepping back into daily life. These sessions help clients to maintain peer networks as well as continuing to build resilience in the face of their struggles and temptations.

Our team is able to fully support all clients with their recovery, providing a compassionate and empathetic approach full of understanding. They provide an example that a brighter future is possible in sobriety. Find out how we can help you or your loved one today; contact our team.

Turn Over Your New Leaf Today

Stigma remains in control as long as we stay silent. By being open to seeking support for substance addiction tackles these deep rooted stigmas, ensuring that individuals get the support needed in recovery as quickly as possible.

If you have been holding back on seeking support or have a loved one who is struggling and you are unsure what steps to take, reach out to us today for a confidential conversation about how we can help you.

Recovery is a strength, not a secret! Take the first step towards your recovery today.