- Participate in honest dialogue about how the entire family has been impacted by the disease of addiction.
- Learn about why addiction is called a “family disease,” how addiction targets free will and why 12-step recovery programs are so important.
- Connect with other families who have faced similar challenges, creating an important support network.
- Learn ways to effectively support their loved one in recovery while also regaining their own sense of peace and well-being.
- Understand how addiction has impacted family dynamics, and begin the healing process.
- Explore the healing power of faith, worship and prayer.
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Family Recovery Center
Hope and Healing are Possible
Family Recovery Center
Addiction doesn’t just hurt individuals. It harms everyone it touches – loved ones most of all. AARC’s Family Recovery Center provides family members support, understanding, compassion and therapy to help mend relationships and tend to their own wounds.
The definition of family has changed over the years, from the standard parents and children to a family unit that includes friends and loved ones. We embrace whomever our clients define as family and welcome those individuals into our family recovery center. We offer:
- Family therapy sessions: We engage family members in the treatment process through regular family therapy sessions. For those who are unable to visit our family recovery center, we provide phone conferencing.
- Family education program: Our family education program provides valuable information to families about the treatment process, the disease of addiction and relapse prevention tools. Families receive professional support as well as opportunities to interact with other families experiencing similar issues.
- Support groups: At our family recovery center, families receive professional support and guidance as well as interact with other families that are experiencing similar issues. We also introduce loved ones to additional peer support and 12-step groups.
Family Orientation and Family Healing Group
After their loved one has been admitted into treatment at AARC, family members are invited to a Family Orientation. Families learn about the disease of addiction and practical advice on supporting recovery, such as making a home safe from triggers, setting boundaries that provide accountability and structure, identifying signs of relapse and having an action plan in case of relapse.
The Family Healing Group brings together families and those struggling with addiction to share experiences, hear others’ perspectives and draw strength from each other. Families create a network with other families who understand what they’ve been through and can provide encouragement.
A sense of relief is often the most prevalent feeling family members experience when an addict or alcoholic commits to entering treatment and begin recovery. As treatment progresses, and if clinically appropriate, family is invited to participate in the family recovery program. Loved ones are strongly encouraged to engage in the Family Healing Group, attend Alcoholics Anonymous or other 12-step support groups, and if necessary, continue or begin individual psychotherapy for ongoing support.
Family Healing Group Members:
How Addiction Hurts Families
During PHP, individuals work toward being honest with themselves about the extent of their addiction and the damage it has done to their lives and those they love, and in admitting their wrongs to God. Patients work toward honesty, integrity and accountability in all interactions with clinical staff, their peers in treatment and their family members.
Families, including spouses, partners, parents and children, bear the brunt of the destructive power of drug and alcohol addiction. Spouses, partners, parents and the children of addicts grieve the person they have lost to drugs and alcohol. They live with constant stress and fear, wondering about their loved one’s whereabouts or if they will survive another day. They may feel compelled to cover or make excuses for the addicted individual, to prevent their loved one from losing their job, to protect their children or to shield themselves from embarrassment of having to admit that their loved one has seemingly chosen substance use over their family.
There may be legal and financial repercussions of addiction. Family finances may suffer, because their loved one is spending money to buy drugs or because of frequent absences from work. There are legal costs if a loved one has been caught driving under the influence, or has been sent to jail for drug possession or other drug and alcohol-fueled behavior.
Family members may understand rationally that their loved one’s unpredictable, defensive, illegal and selfish behavior is a product of the substance use – yet it doesn’t make the broken vows and the dishonesty hurt any less.
AARC’s Family Recovery Center Supports
Everyone Hurt by Addiction
At AARC, we empathize with the pain families of addicted individuals bear, and our family recovery center and family support program aims to help heal those second-handedly affected by addiction. Family members and loved ones of addicts will be the best support system for individuals recovering from addiction. For this reason, it is important that as an individual is recovering from addiction, they begin to heal the relationships with their family and friends as well.
Addiction treatment at our center focuses on helping individuals achieve sobriety and maintain abstinence through physical, mental and spiritual healing. In treatment, individuals have the opportunity to make amends, to view themselves with more compassion and to building a positive self-identity that’s necessary for maintaining sobriety.
But what about families? Past deception may leave them unsure whether to trust again, and reluctant to leave themselves vulnerable to be hurt again. They may have had to sacrifice their own well-being to keep the family together, or to protect their addicted loved one. They have wounds of their own. At AARC’s Family Recovery Center, loved ones can start to move beyond these hurts, finding a new path forward for themselves and those they love.
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