The journey through the storm of addiction or mental health challenges is a daunting one, a tempestuous sea demanding both courage and resilience. While the individual steers the ship, facing the crashing waves of change, it is the family – a steadfast lighthouse – that illuminates the path and offers unwavering support. This guide serves as a handheld compass, guiding individuals and families through this tumultuous voyage, forging a path towardhealing and hope. Family members largely endorse the reports of individuals in recovery, validating the diverse impact of recovery across various life domains. However, research reveals the widespread adverse consequences of addiction on family members, often persisting even during recovery. This emphasizes the need for expanded and enhanced family-focused support services, recognizing the dynamic and individualized nature of recovery and the cumulative impact on family members.
Parallel to that person’s recovery, their family members need time and support to heal from the crisis too, and to nurture their own individual recovery, as well as the family system’s recovery. If the family does not work on themselves, it limits the chances of their loved one maintaining long-term recovery when they leave treatment (CDC, 2023). To our knowledge there are no evidence-based strategies to guide family members toward referring their youth to SU screening and other treatment services. When you begin your journey toward recovery, your family members may also need the support of mental health professionals. This final stage is considered relatively stable in comparison to the earlier three stages.
- Our families are one of our most valuable support groups, even though the damage done by abusing harmful substances can be lasting.
- They calculated a small effect size that endured up to 12–18 months post-treatment and translated to a 5.7% reduction in SU frequency—the equivalent of approximately three fewer weeks per year of SU.
- Ultimately, the call for better guidance and support for family members provides a clear policy direction for expanded family-focused support services and future research directions.
- In some cases, youth with SUD exhibit minimal or no readiness to enter treatment, whereas family members are motivated to assist them in doing so.
Parents often feel anxiety over their child’s whereabouts and sudden changes in their social circles. In response, primary guardian and parental figures demonstrate a wide variety of behaviors and attitudes. These roles have been named many things, and this is a version of what they are and how they play out. Family members can play an important role in helping a loved one with a substance use disorder get on the road to recovery. American Addiction Centers offers family therapy at many of our rehab centers across the country. Dealing with a mental illness alongside a substance use disorder is often referred to as a “co-occurring disorder.” Additionally, a mental illness can worsen addiction and vice versa.
Everyone’s experience with SUD is different, so each family member’s treatment plan will vary. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provides much research and information on best evidenced-based practices for substance use disorder treatment and family therapy. A key point to understand is that families are both affected and are affected by loved ones who struggle with SUDs. The family and/or friend system has its own personality, just as much as the individual members who are a part of the family. Mutual help groups are also widely available to aid family members of persons with SUD (e.g., Al-Anon), and a few studies based on member surveys have reported gains in member self-care (e.g., Timko et al., 2016).
A Parallel Recovery: Families Healing From Addiction
Family-based treatment addresses family skills (e.g., communication, coping, problem-solving), family relationships and processes, and family member relations with key extrafamilial persons and systems (Hogue et al., in press). Hogue and colleagues (2018) concluded in a systematic literature review that family therapy is a well-established outpatient approach for adolescent SU that has accumulated the largest evidence base compared to all other approaches. Ariss and Fairbairn (2020) completed a meta-analysis of family-involved treatments that condensed data from 2,115 adolescents and fun substance abuse group activities for adults adults across 16 independent trials. They calculated a small effect size that endured up to 12–18 months post-treatment and translated to a 5.7% reduction in SU frequency—the equivalent of approximately three fewer weeks per year of SU. They also found that family-involved treatment showed consistent impacts across client age, other characteristics, and treatment models.
Research is needed to evaluate the potential benefits of infusing peer/community and DTC services with family-oriented programming that scaffolds youth to pursue healthy (re)connection with family and (re)investment in familial goals. Family involvement in adolescent substance abuse treatment and recovery services and supports is described as the active engagement and participation of family members in practice, program, and policy areas. Collaborative partnerships between family members and professionals are crucial to sustaining and expanding access to quality adolescent substance abuse treatment and recovery services and supports. Advancing research, practice, and policy agendae to increase family involvement in treatment and recovery for SUD among transition-age youth remains an arduous path.
Stage 1: The drinking stage
One promising family-oriented innovation is the Youth Opioid Recovery Support (YORS) intervention (Fishman et al., 2020; Wenzel & Fishman, 2020). YORS is an assertive, multi-component behavioral intervention that aims to enhance MOUD adherence and decrease opioid relapse among youth. YORS mobilizes practical parenting strategies for guiding service utilization for a young person not yet fully capable of sustaining the effort alone, while promoting youth autonomy as it strengthens with gradual maturation and healing of illness.
That is a lot of friends and family left behind to grieve the loss of what could have what are whippets been, and the memories of what once was (CDC, 2023). Too often, we hear loved ones try to explain the torment they feel as they sit home wondering if today is “the day” their spouse, child, parent, sibling, or friend does not come back home, or the day they find their loved one unresponsive. The focus lies in the area of staying sober and committing to recovery and building up the structure of the family after it’s been torn down in the earlier stages.
Clinical Family Assessment
We will explore the diverse forms family support can take, from active participation in therapy sessions to creating a safe harbor at home, free from the storms of enabling behaviors. We will dispel the myths and misconceptions that often cloud family involvement, replacing them with empowering truths and actionable strategies. Future research should compare the experiences of family members in varying recovery conditions, including those with family members in active addiction, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the complexities involved. Ultimately, the call for better guidance and support for family members provides a clear policy direction for expanded family-focused support services and future research directions. Community stakeholders and public officials play a vital role in driving decisions and policy approaches that prioritize family support and integrated care models.
What Is The Role Of Family In Addiction Recovery?
It’s important to understand that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to addiction or mental health problems. The stigma around addiction can often make families feel ashamed, leading them to isolate themselves. stephanie thurrott They might minimize contact with friends or the community for fear of judgment and discrimination.
