Inpatient rehab is the highest level of care provided for addiction where patients are required to live at the treatment facility and are unable to come and go freely as they please. This is usually for good reason, after all, going to rehab often means leaving behind toxic relationships and environments.
Even though getting sober sometimes means letting go of certain relationships, it also involves building and nourishing healthy relationships. For this reason, it can be helpful to stay in touch with family and supportive friends during the treatment process. With that said, if you are going to rehab, you and your family are probably wondering whether or not you are allowed to have visitors at a New Jersey drug rehab.
Can You Have Visitors in Rehab?
Most New Jersey drug rehab centers will allow your friends and family members to visit you under certain conditions. The first is that your loved one who is coming to visit you must be sober during the visit. Furthermore, you will likely have to get approval from your substance abuse counselor before being allowed a family visit.
Family involvement is an important part of the recovery process. As such, family visits allow family members to show their support, encourage healing, and provide positive reinforcement for their loved ones. Family visits can also provide a sense of comfort to you during your rehab stay, especially as you are getting sober in an unfamiliar environment.
The exact structure of family visits during rehab will vary depending on the facility, the client, and their family. These details are worked out between the patient, therapist, and the visitor. For example, if you are new to rehab and haven’t been sober long, you may only be granted a brief, supervised visit that happens at the treatment facility.
On the other hand, if you’ve been sober for a while and have been making progress in treatment, your therapist may allow you to leave the facility for a few hours for a brief outing with your loved one. If you are allowed an outing like this, you will be required to take a drug test and a breathalyzer when you return to the rehab facility.
Another way addiction treatment centers in New Jersey promote family involvement is through family therapy. Family therapy gives the entire family an opportunity to get involved, heal from the effects of addiction, and learn how to better support one another.
Requesting a Family Visit
Every rehab center has a different process when it comes to requesting a family visit. As a general rule of thumb, no outside visits, phone calls, or interaction with the outside world of any kind is allowed for the first week of treatment. This is meant to help you get acclimated to the treatment environment and daily schedule.
After the first week is up, if the treatment center allows it, you may discuss a family visit with your therapist. Your therapist will learn about you and your family member’s relationship to determine whether or not they think the visit is a good idea.
If your therapist determines that your family member is a positive influence on your recovery, they may grant you a brief visit at the facility or a “pass” that allows you to leave the facility with your loved one for a certain period of time.
Family Therapy During Rehab
Drug and alcohol addiction is often referred to as a family disease. One of the benefits of having visitors in rehab is that your addiction can be treated as such. The majority of New Jersey drug rehab centers will encourage all patients to take advantage of their family therapy programs.
While individual therapy is meant to help improve your coping skills and thought processes, including your family in the healing process can help both you and your family members. Addiction can inflict a major financial and emotional burden on your family, and it can even cause behaviors to develop in family members that aren’t healthy. These burdens can be lessened and these behaviors can be broken through the use of family therapy.
Family therapy may focus on a range of different topics, including trust, communication, resentments, blame, anger, guilt, and more. By speaking about these difficult topics in a safe and therapeutic environment, the entire family has a chance to heal and develop a stronger, healthier relationship.
Find Help From a New Jersey Drug Rehab Today
Between supervised family visits, passes that allow you to leave the facility for a few hours with a loved one, and family therapy, there are plenty of ways you can have visitors in rehab. Having the support of your family and close friends can greatly improve your chances for success at a New Jersey drug rehab center.
If you or someone you care about needs help with an addiction, call us today. A dedicated treatment specialist is waiting by to help you begin your journey to recovery.
Medically Reviewed: February 2, 2021
All of the information on this page has been reviewed and verified by a certified addiction professional.