Family Counseling for Drug and Alcohol Addiction
Chemical dependency is damaging to those who care about the man who is suffering. Getting the help of clinical professionals in a setting like The Landing Family Program is a great start to healing.Quite often, a substance abusing man will progress gradually into problematic drug or alcohol abuse without realizing that he has become addicted. It follows that the man often isn’t aware of the harm he causes to those around them, including his family members, loved ones, co-workers, and friends.
The Entire Family Can Help a Young Man's Recovery
The family members and loved ones often can’t recognize that they are participating in the cycle of alcoholism or drug abuse. It takes the help of a therapist or counselor to identify problem behaviors like enabling and then provide guidelines on how to react to the substance abusing man in a different way. Sometimes the best thing to do for a man who is abusing drugs or alcohol can be counterintuitive to those around him.
As we discuss in the web page we created to help the families and loved ones of addicted men, we know that the suffering of the families and loved ones can be unbearable and requires skills and tools that will help them cope.
The Landing’s Monthly Family Program
The Landing hosts a monthly “Family Program” that educates families and loved ones about the disease of addiction and how it might be affecting them. Many useful concepts are taught that will help the family work through the pain that addiction has caused and learn how to respond to future challenges that addiction may present.
The Family Program at The Landing is unlike the family counseling sessions that occur at other treatment facilities. We find that all too often families dread attending Family Program, as visions of tearful confrontations and fear of the unknown make them worried about what will occur during the experience.
At The Landing, we take the opportunity to create an experience that is positive, healing, and educational. The Landing’s Family Program is truly for the family and loved ones of the man who is in treatment. We take the time to educate the family about issues like “enabling” and how to react when the man acts dishonestly or is in denial about his drug abuse.
Our state-of-the-art Family Program also helps families understand the importance of getting help for themselves and how to do so. There is no more important thing you can do for an addicted son, brother, father, or husband than take care of yourself and respond to his addiction in a unified way. This approach will help alleviate a lot of pain and suffering for all of those involved.
It Helps to Have Professional Counseling in Relationships Impacted by Addiction
The family that attends our Family Program will be given the opportunity to learn from Kevin McCauley and Dr. Jerry Brown that there is hope, and that while their family member is in treatment, they can be growing, changing, and learning right along with him. The family members will also realize the role they can play to give their beloved family member the best chance at maintaining there recovery long-term.
Here is a sample schedule:
WEDNESDAY
8:30 AM Continental Breakfast – Family Program Facility
9:00-10:30 Introduction and Lecture – Kevin McCauley – “The Disease of Addiction”
10:30-10:45 Break
10:45-11:45 Continuing Lecture – Kevin McCauley
11:45-12:30 Lunch – Provided at Family Program Facility
12:30-1:00 Introduction and SLBTS Presentation
1:00-3:30 Lecture on Family Roles – Dr. Jerry Brown and Tanya Desloover
3:30-7:30 Relaxation and Dinner on your own
7:30 PM Al-Anon Meeting at the Family Program Facility
THURSDAY
8:30 AM Continental Breakfast – Family Program Facility
9:00-10:15 Lecture – Kevin McCauley – “Staying Sober for the First Year & Beyond!”
10:15-10:30 Break
10:30-12:00 Lecture – Dr. Jerry Brown – “Dual Diagnosis”
12:00-12:45 Lunch with SLBTS Clients and their Families
12:45-3:00 Multi Family Group – Dr. Jerry Brown and Tanya Desloover
3:00-8:00 Appointments with Case Managers, Relaxation, Dinner on your own
Suggested 12-Step Meetings
SUGGESTED AL-ANON MEETINGS
6:30 PM Al-Anon Corona Del Mar Community Church 611 Heliotrope, Newport Beach, CA12 x 12 Step Study
7:30 PM Men’s Al-Anon Lutheran Church of the Master2900 Pacific View Drive, Newport Beach, CA
FRIDAY
8:30 AM Continental Breakfast – Family Program Facility
9:00-11:30 Group Closure – Dr. Jerry Brown
11:30 AM Lunch and/or Hotel Check-out on your own
We hope that everyone takes the opportunity to grow with us and to have an experience that will truly bring your family together.
Addiction and it’s Affect on the Family
Facts about the Damage that Drug Abuse Can Cause to the Family Alarming national statistics indicate that the entire family often suffers when one member is addicted to drugs or alcohol:
- More than half of all spouse and child abuse is directly tied to alcohol and drug abuse.
- Alcohol and drug-addicted persons are seven times more likely to divorce.
- More than half of all traffic fatalities are related to alcohol and other forms of drug abuse.
- Non-alcoholic members of alcoholic families take considerably more sick leave than members of families in which alcoholism is not presen.
- Alcohol is implicated in 25 to 50 percent of cases of maltreatment of women, and in 20 percent of cases of maltreatment of children.
- An estimated 6.6 million children under the age of 18 live in households with at least one alcoholic parent.
Sadly, even if the substance abusing man is able to keep up appearances to the outside world, family life often becomes intolerable for his loved ones. Yet they may try to cover up what is really happening because it’s just too painful to admit their family is being torn apart by something they cannot control.
Desperate for change, family members may try to control events involving the substance abuser or his behavior. They may hide or throw out alcohol or drugs. They may repeatedly scold the addicted man or try to shame him into promising to never use again. They may call in sick for the chemically dependent man or lie to ensure the outside world doesn’t find out the truth. Often, families become drawn into the substance abuser’s sickness; they become co-dependent while trying desperately to make family life seem “normal.”
Unfortunately, ignoring the problem or helping to cover things up isn’t helping anyone. It certainly isn’t helping children who may be living in the home. While they may seem oblivious to daddy’s substance abuse, they are most certainly being affected – and not just temporarily.
If your family is being affected by drug or alcohol abuse, don’t give up hope. It is statistically proven that when family, friends, or co-workers come together to help the chemically dependent person face his addiction and realize the damage he is causing, that person agrees to enter treatment more often and is more successful in maintaining long-term recovery.
To find out if you or a loved one may be chemically dependent, there are questions you need to ask yourself. Please call us at 877.235.6134.
