In the first two parts of this guide, we discussed the different ways that addiction can affect a workplace. Not only do people with addictions create challenges for other people in their workplace, but the workplace itself can contribute to addiction.
This article will focus on how an addicted employee can make positive changes in themselves and in their workplace.
How You Can Improve Your Workplace
Obviously, the employee with an addiction has the strongest opportunity to improve any workplace that is damaged by addictive behavior – aside from, perhaps, their employer, who could simply fire them. Hopefully, by following the advice in this article, you will be able to avoid getting fired and overcome your addiction before it creates serious problems.
Here are a few things you can try.
Getting Clean.
Obviously, if your addiction is causing problems and work, the best thing for you to do is to get clean with the help of drug and alcohol rehab San Diego. Unfortunately, depending on how serious your addiction is, getting clean might not be the easiest thing in the world. It never is, but it becomes even more difficult when trying to maintain a job.
- If you think you can sober up on your own, try to schedule your work week so that you have at least three consecutive days off in a row. If you educate yourself on how to accelerate a detox process this might be enough time for you to get through the worst of it prior to return it to work.
- Use your vacation time to go to rehab. If you think you’re going to need a rehab program to get through addiction, then you’ll probably need at least a week of time. It might not seem like fun to use your vacation time to go to rehab but in the long run, it’s in your best interest.
- Be honest with your boss. It never hurts to be truthful about the situation. If you’re a good worker, chances are that your boss wants to keep you around. They may be willing to set aside some time or create a schedule that supports you in going to detox.
- Try outpatient rehab. Outpatient rehab allows you to participate in therapy and other rehab practices without needing to commit full-time. You can maintain a job at outpatient rehab.
If you don’t think that you’re able to get sober right away, and you don’t think your boss will support you going to drug and alcohol rehab, these are some other things you can try.
Confide in a trusted coworker.
If there’s somebody at work that you can trust who you don’t think will share the secret of your addiction, confide in them about your struggle. Many people don’t understand how difficult it can be for someone with an addiction to try and sober up while maintaining their job. Having someone to support you through this can be very helpful.
Wean yourself off.
Perhaps the most important piece of advice that can be given to somebody who isn’t able to go through detox is to start weaning yourself down. Start by spacing your doses out further and further apart and by decreasing the dosage that you take.
Stop looking forward to getting high. Instead, take only the bare minimum required to get rid of your withdrawal symptoms and only use it when the symptoms become bad enough that they prevent you from working. Over time, your tolerance and dependence will decrease to the point where it will be much easier to stop using entirely.
Conclusion
Struggling with addiction while you’re working a job can be very difficult. However, there are ways to work through it. If you think you can get time off, don’t hesitate to reach out to a drug and alcohol rehab San Diego. Otherwise, consider weaning yourself off the drugs and making sure that your behavior is appropriate in the meantime.
