Family

Working with the family is an important element of our programme – and it is one of the foundation pillars of the Strong Hope process.

As with everything we do, meticulous care has been given to the content of the material we have included in our family programme ensuring we deliver in line with our goals of providing the highest quality of treatment with the optimum level of care.
We of course recognize that when a loved one enters treatment, it can be an unnerving and unsettling period of time for the family members too.

When a client stays in treatment with us for a minimum of 28 days, this gives us an opportunity, with the client’s consent, to deliver a 2-day family programme with nominated family members. Up to three family members can be invited for each client in treatment. The family programme will generally take place during the third or fourth week of the client’s treatment programme.

The work is sometimes difficult, often emotional, but always filled with the opportunity for growth and healing.

The family programme is split into three areas:

1.  Psycho-educational work – this allows us to build a greater understanding for the family members of what addiction is, where it manifests and how to support the addict. Here we use ground-breaking information that explains the psychological impact of addiction, the importance of setting family boundaries and how to appreciate one another in recovery.
2.  Group work – the group work part of the family programme allows us to re-examine past experiences, which in turn helps to encourage resources for the future instead of problems from the past. The power, safety and forgiveness found in group work coupled with dynamic therapeutic techniques provide foundational and lasting benefits for each individual and, as a consequence, for the whole family.
3. Experiential work – our Family Programme can have a profound impact upon each participant.  We bring the group together by sharing experiences, and this is where each individual will experience empowerment and feel heard and understood.

We believe that in order to be totally effective in treating addiction and other dysfunctional behaviours that it is necessary to treat the family as well.

It is important to remember that while our family programme is the beginning of a process of driving change, or supporting reconnection, it is not therapy.

We know from research that those clients who have family support for their recovery are much more likely to succeed than those who don’t.  We also know, statistically, that most of our clients come from families where some form of addiction, co-dependence, or other dysfunctional behaviour is present.

What do we do at Strong Hope?

At Strong Hope, we begin to look at the potential damaging effects on the family as a result of addiction. It really does affect all members in some way – so we look at how to begin to repair the damage.

We explore talking therapies, which are crucial in understanding why we do the things that we do. These talking therapies in our family programme are group sessions mostly.

Our family programme is delivered by a fully trained therapist who understands this crucial element of our treatment.