Family Therapy

Substance use disorder is a family disease.

You have taken the first step of your family healing journey by being here. I know it’s not easy to reach out for support when your loved one is struggling with a substance use disorder. It can feel incredibly isolating and lonely. You are not alone in this.

Family therapy is for family members and friends concerned about their loved ones who live with a substance use disorder.

Nearly 20 million Americans 12 years of age or older struggle with substance use disorder, and another 23 million live in recovery. And for every individual affected, there are family and friends in the background suffering alongside them, slowly watching their loved ones become a shell of themselves.

I can’t thank you enough for your work every day loving someone with a substance use disorder. I know how chaotic it can be and how much you want healthy change for this person in your life.

When you are fighting back the tears and rage as your loved one swears at you, you may not have time to do much of anything but react. But when they’ve stormed out the door, the question arises in your mind yet again: “If they love me, why won’t they quit?” 

Substance misuse leads to a downward spiral of dysfunctional patterns.

Those patterns erode trust and prevent healing, making you feel tired of fighting, pleading for them to stop using.

One of the significant difficulties couples have involves communicating. Substance misuse often exacerbates the problem.

You have likely experienced years of nagging, pleading, and threatening to try to change your loved one’s unwanted behaviors. And chances are it hasn’t helped.

Often, the way we interact brings about the very behavior we are trying to stop.

Al-Anon doesn’t feel like enough.

At this point, you think, “I need more skills and tools to move forward.”

Family therapy utilizes a highly effective, evidence-based motivational program that impacts families in multiple areas of their lives, including self-care, pleasurable activities, problem-solving, and goal setting.

Together, we will address your loved one’s resistance to change using scientifically validated behavioral principles to reduce their substance misuse and encourage them to seek treatment.

While other treatment approaches call for either confronting or detaching from a loved one involved in the abuse of substances, you will learn how to change your interactions with the addicted person. You also will learn to reduce or stop their substance misuse and encourage the person to move toward getting help.

You are not powerless.

Studies have shown that family members with their recovery program increase the chances of their loved one achieving long-term sobriety.

We will focus on your healing, understanding, and communication to engage in recovery. In our work together, you will learn new skills in rapport building, positive reinforcement, communication, problem-solving, motivation techniques, analyzing patterns of substance misuse, how and when to intervene, safety precautions, and more using proven methods.

Family therapy has the following three primary goals: reduce your loved one’s harmful substance misuse, engage your loved one in treatment, improve you and your loved one’s family functioning.

Open yourself up to new ways of interacting with your loved one and have the courage to take control of your situation. Take this journey with me as you learn how to control your reactions and help shape a change in your loved one’s behavior. Let’s find hope again.

Looking for more ways to help? Check out the Helping Your Loved One Get Sober Course for Families in Recovery.

More Ways to Heal

Dear Caregiver,

I know you feel you need to care for everyone around you. You have long felt responsible for helping others feel better and to make everything ok again. I know you feel exhausted and tired from carrying all the load. It’s a heavy load to carry alone. I know you are afraid that others may not love you if you don’t care for everything, causing you to feel fearful of losing them.

I promise you don’t have to carry everyone else’s pain anymore. I allow you to start taking care of yourself. Others will still love you. You are worthy of self-love and self-care. I see you; I hear you; you are enough.”

Signed,

Healing with Love and Compassion

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