Intervention and Family Guidance
At Arizona Addiction Recovery Center we created the intervention and family guidance program because we understand that Addiction Treatment is not an easy journey. Addicts often struggle during and after treatment and therefore, require all the support they can get.
The objective of the program is to get family members involved in the treatment process to help the addict achieve and maintain sobriety. It also helps family members find solace knowing that their loved one is getting the help they need.
Our program focuses on the needs of every family member. By understanding the goals and issues of each member of the family we are able to find solutions that will strengthen the family as a unit. The aim is to reconcile the addict with the other family members and get the whole family to move harmoniously in a positive direction.
Our family therapy program seeks to ensure that each member participates in the treatment process. But we also know that not every family may be interested in taking part and we therefore we only encourage participation, but we never force it upon the family, because in order for family therapy to be successful there must be mutual understanding, corporation and flexibility.
Why Family Therapy?
When people are faced with problems, this can have an adverse effect on their mental and physical wellbeing. By recognizing the need to treat not just the addiction, we have included therapies in our addiction treatment program that also treat both the mind and body.
Although we provide individualized treatment for each addict, we realized that without family intervention, recovery can be difficult. Our viewpoint is, when an addict graduates from our treatment program, they are placed back in the same environment they were before. Without the right support, they can easily go back to their old ways.
Furthermore, as the addict tries to adjust to the new changes, other family members also have to deal with these changes and this can bring about different reactions. This can become a problem for the recovering addict who does not know how to deal with these reactions. This is why we feel family therapy is essential because it helps both the recovering addict and the other family members cope better.
Goals of our family therapy program
Our family therapy program seeks to achieve the following goals:
- Identifying the needs of each family member including those of the substance abuser
- Improving communication between the family members
- Encouraging change
- Determining accountability
- Resolving conflicts among family members
- Teaching family members how to identify behaviors that may lead to substance abuse
- Improving and strengthening the whole family unit
The program aims to achieve these goals by focusing on the strengths of each family member and the family as a whole with the aim of diminishing any enabling behaviors that will lead to addiction.
Our family therapists work closely with the addict’s family to define and create personal goals to increase the chances of success.
How it works
The one thing we do is to ensure that the family members know what is happening it through explaining to them the therapy process and the role they play in it. What we try to do is eliminate any misgivings that the family members are ganging up on the addict. We do those by improving communication, determining accountability, and encouraging change. This motivates the family even more to make changes in the way they interact with each other.
Our family therapists encourage open communication where each member of the family including the addict can voice their concerns and issues without prejudice or fear. This enables us for one, to get to the root of the problem facing the family. Secondly, to resolve the problem. Such a reasonable route for expression and dialogue is something that more often than not lacks in the life of an addict.
Although the lives of addicts are chaotic and unbalanced, the cause of the addiction is hardly discussed. And when the topic does come up, there is no room to have a rational conversation because usually, the dialogue is negative and accusatory.
In our family therapy sessions, we ensure that no member of the family, addict or not, feels emotionally unsafe for being open and honest. As our family therapists mediate and resolve conflicts among the family members, topics that bring about a lot of emotion are brought up and discussed. During this process, our family therapists ensure that each member of the family feels safe and comfortable.
In our experience, open dialogue brings into light the negative emotions such as anger, concern, guilt, resentment and the challenges that each member of the family is experiencing. By addressing these emotions and their contributory factors, the family members are able to have a better understanding of what their loved ones are going through, thus empowers them to foster positive change.
However, we do realize that not every member of the addict’s family can take part or should take part in family therapy. Our program does not enroll addicts into family therapy if there are legal constraints or safety issues or there is evidence of domestic violence. Because we take responsibility in ensuring that all the participants of our family therapy program feel safe.
How you stand to benefit from our family therapy program
We understand the struggle of addiction and the challenges to achieve and maintain sobriety, which is why we incorporate family therapy into our addiction treatment program.
Families that take part in our program benefit in the following ways:
- They come to understand that addiction is a condition and that it requires treatment much like other conditions like diabetes, heart disease and depression.
- They are able to build healthy and more solid interpersonal relationships among the family members
- Ends enabling behaviors
- Promotes successful and long-term sobriety
- You build a strong network of support
