Model for Family Success

Families who have had prolonged success in triumphing over the disease of addiction have been found to have taken the following steps:

• Organized themselves to successfully encourage their loved one and the entire family to get help.
• Taken all family program opportunities the treatment center provides as well as programs which may be recommended by their interventionist
• Become actively involved in 12-step and other family support groups
• Participated in a Family Reintegration Workshop
• Utilized ongoing coaching or family case management

Often families require additional services once their loved one has entered treatment or is returning home after completion. When the family rejoins, there is pressure to return to the old family patterns of behavior. The stress and pressure of everyone trying to be perfect and to not wanting to make mistakes often makes things much worse. The family dynamic before recovery is sometimes very difficult to break.

How is this Workshop Different than an Intervention?

There is a clear relationship between stress and dis-ease activation. This includes addictions, enabling behaviors, codependency and prolonged stress a major risk factor associated with addiction relapse.

For those in early recovery from addictive disease, issues such as divorce, relationship conflicts, financial difficulty, work and legal issues are often associated with increased stress and subsequent relapse. It is important to identify your families’ stressors and build skills to work through them. We all face different challenges and obstacles, and sometimes the pressures are hard to handle. When stress exceeds your ability to cope it becomes a threat to you physical and emotional well being. All family members may suffer from the same symptoms.

It is common to have to Family Reintegration Workshops tied into ongoing family case management or mentoring. Our experience has been that families that utilize ongoing support to help keep their members on track and again have had the most successful and sustained outcomes. However, the greatest outcomes are reflected by greatest commitment to personal recovery by the family.

Common Warning Signs of Increased Stress

• Cognitive: Difficulty concentrating or making decisions, forgetfulness, preoccupation or rumination, fear of failure, self criticism or constant criticism of others
• Emotional: Agitation, irritability, impatience, fear, anxiety, depression, overwhelmed, inability to relax, short temper
• Behaviors: Cross addictive behaviors (excessive work, spending, gambling, sexual acting out, control, increased or decreased eating), isolation or decreased social activities, acting impulsively, persistent smoking, nervous habits, overreacting to unexpected problems, or using substances to reduce anxiety and stress, isolation
• Physical: Insomnia or sleeping too much, headaches, muscle tension, fatigue, GI distress, hand tremors, rapid, breathing, palpitation, decreased libido