Teaching People How To Treat Us - Setting Boundaries in Early Recovery

Setting boundaries is an essential skill in life, especially for people in recovery. Alcoholic and addicts often have dysfunctional boundaries: either too rigid (leading to suppressed emotions or distant relationships) or too enmeshed (depriving us of a sense of personal identity). If we don't learn how to create and maintain healthy boundaries interpersonal relationships may continue to be defined by old roles and patterns, increasing the risk of relapse.

As part of recovery, we learn how to set boundaries and to respect other people’s boundaries in return. 

But, especially in early recovery, this can be daunting.  An important aspect of setting healthy boundaries is learning, simply, how to say "no".  Another important part of setting boundaries is identifying how we are feeling; something that can take practice when we are newly sober. We can't teach other people how to treat us if we can't identify our own thoughts, feelings and emotions.

On this show we discuss what boundaries are, why they are important, and share tips, tools and advice on ways we identify, build and strengthen them, with an emphasis on how to do this when you are newly sober.