11 Dec Intervention and Family Therapy in Vancouver, BC
Loving someone who is struggling with addiction can be exhausting, and helping him/her find a recovery plan that feels right for his/her needs is challenging. However, there is no question that showing your love and concern by providing support, consistency, and courage is a great start for a successful recovery.
Addiction affects the entire family. It can be difficult to watch a loved one repeatedly put themselves in danger, and people who have an addicted family member often feel a mixture of fear and frustration.
The emotional stress of addiction often leaves family members feeling helpless. In these situations, it can be beneficial to try a family therapy program. Our Vancouver drug and alcohol treatment centres provide family counselling that helps the person suffering from addiction, alongside their family members.
Addiction is a disease that affects more than just the person who has it. Working with a trained professional who specialize in addiction issues or an interventionist in Vancouver can ease the burden that family members often carry alone.
Who Makes up a Family
There is no single, immutable definition of family in Vancouver. Different cultures and belief systems influence definitions, and because cultures and beliefs change over time, definitions of family by no means are static.
For practical purposes, family can be defined according to the individual’s closest emotional connections. In family therapy, clients identify who they think should be included in therapy. The counselor or therapist cannot determine which individuals make up another person’s family.
When commencing therapy, the counsellor or therapist needs to ask the client, Who is important to you? What do you consider your family to be? It is critical to identify people who are important in the person’s life. Anyone who is instrumental in providing support, maintaining the household, providing financial resources, and with whom there is a strong and enduring emotional bond may be considered family for the purposes of therapy. No one should be automatically included or excluded.
What Is Family Therapy in Vancouver?
Families play a complex role in substance abuse treatment. In addition to being troubled by their loved one’s addiction, family members may also struggle with their own emotional difficulties.
The purpose of family therapy is to understand the group’s unique strengths, and to utilize those strengths to help the entire family recover. To do this, the emotional effects of the person’s substance abuse must be addressed.
A family therapy program in Vancouver is often included in treatment for addiction or mental health issues. For instance, a person with anxiety and addiction (a co-occurring disorder) may cause problems in the home that hurt and alienate other family members. Therapy helps everyone understand the nature of anxiety and addiction and work through the problem together.
Most problems that involve everyone in the family cannot be solved unless everyone in the family is willing to work together to find a solution. Therapy incorporates various techniques that center around interpersonal therapy, behavior therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and counselling for each family member. There are several things you can learn in family therapy through our local Vancouver treatment centres.
Family therapy in substance abuse treatment has two main purposes. First, it seeks to use the family’s strengths and resources to help find or develop ways to live without substances of abuse. Second, it ameliorates the impact of chemical dependency on both the user and the family. Frequently, in the process, marshaling the family’s strengths requires the provision of basic support for the family.
In family therapy, the unit of treatment is the family, and/or the individual within the context of the family system. The person abusing substances is regarded as a subsystem within the family unit-the person whose symptoms have severe repercussions throughout the family system. The familial relationships within this subsystem are the points of therapeutic interest and intervention. The therapist facilitates discussions and problem solving sessions, often with the entire family group or subsets thereof, but sometimes with a single participant, who may or may not be the person with the substance use disorder.
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, connect with someone who can help you now by calling us Andy Bhatti Addiction Services and Interventions at our toll free number 1-888-960-3209. Our recovery advisors are available 24/7 to provide you with information regarding treatment, admissions, insurance and private pay options.
Benefits of Family Therapy in Vancouver
There are several benefits of family therapy, such as
- Therapy can bring your family together after a crisis.
- You can rejoin with members who have been isolated.
- You can rebuild your home with trust and mutual respect.
- Each member of the family learns to support the other members.
- Therapy offers a platform for forgiveness and starting over.
- You learn the underlying reasons for problems and find real solutions.
Most importantly, you do not have to view therapy as a last result. A therapist can help your family work together to manage problems long before they tear your family apart.
Improved Communication
It’s common for people in addiction treatment to experience a range of emotions. Family members may be feeling concerned and manipulated. If a family intervention was staged, people suffering from addiction may feel angry or betrayed. These delicate situations can make it challenging to navigate family relationships during addiction treatment.
With the help of our Vancouver family therapists, professionals are able to assess the family’s communication habits. Therapists may introduce customized tools and exercises. These gentle approaches help to highlight any patterns that may be problematic.
The purpose of family therapy is always to bring the family back in line with their identified goal. Often, these goals include recovery for the person who has an addiction, and emotional healing for the family as a whole.
Personal and Family Wellness
Addiction affects the entire family, and can leave painful emotional scars in its wake. Family therapy sessions are structured to attend to the needs of each member of the family system. Emotional needs may arise such as the desire to forgive, accept, or move on. As family members begin exploring how to voice their personal needs, much of the guesswork is taken out of the equation. As each person builds their own emotional wellness, the overall health of the family is improved. This can greatly ease the recovery journey for the person with a substance use disorder, as well as for their loved ones.
Tools You Can Earn in Family Therapy in Vancouver
Setting Clear Treatment Goals
Families struggling with addiction may become so overwhelmed by stress it becomes difficult to see the main problem. Their focus is placed on the substance, as it seems to represent the most glaring issue. However, for many families, substances are simply a symptom of a deeper issue.
Establishing Healthy Family Boundaries
One of the bedrocks of a healthy family is boundaries. When each person in the family understands and respects the boundaries, everyone feels safer and more comfortable. Therapy helps each person understand how their words and actions violated the boundaries and created tension in the relationships.
Learning Effective Communication Skills
Families can argue a lot and, yet, say little. There is a difference between yelling, being passive-aggressive, and communicating. Therapy teaches you and your loved ones how to communicate thoughts and feelings more effectively. You learn how to be more transparent, express your ideas, and even argue more healthily. You also learn different types of language and when to use them.
Solving Problems with Healthy Solutions
If you feel that your family has problems, you are not alone. Every family has issues they have to solve. However, many people are not equipped to solve difficult problems. If this is the case with your family, therapy can teach you how to work together to solve problems. When your family acts as a team, problems are more manageable, and you grow together instead of tearing each other apart.
Coping with Addiction or Mental Disorders
A substance abuse treatment program in Vancouver gives you an inside look into what causes addiction and how mental health conditions are related. Your entire family will have a better understanding of how to navigate the challenges of addiction and recovery. The more you learn about these conditions, the less you judge the addicted person and each other. Family therapy helps you become more empathetic to the situation while still holding the addicted person accountable.
Overcoming Codependency
Codependency occurs when one or more people in the family enable the addicted person’s behavior or mindset. This often happens due to manipulation, poor self-image, or too much reliance on another person’s love and acceptance. In therapy, you and your family learn the factors contributing to codependency and how to build a healthier relationship based on trust, accountability, and boundaries.
How Is Family Therapy Integrated into Treatment Programs
Once a person is enrolled in treatment in Vancouver or elsewhere, family therapy services include personalized counselling sessions for parents, spouses, siblings, or children. These sessions may cover topics such as family history, communication techniques, and self-care techniques.
Trained mental health professionals in Vancouver help families identify areas where growth is needed, and participants learn how to foster more supportive relationships. By intervening in these complex relational patterns, therapists help to nurture healing change throughout the entire family.
Our Vancouver addiction specialists work with families to help them build skills such as
- learning the family system
- understanding addiction as a medical disease
- repairing the emotional damage caused by addiction
- re-establishing trust
- extending forgiveness
- managing expectations
- teaching accountability
- identifying strategies for family success
- practicing coping strategies
Many times, there is deep resentment from the family members who don’t have substance abuse issues. They may not understand why their family member continues to use drugs or drink, despite all the consequences. Similarly, the person who struggles with addiction may feel misunderstood, and that their privacy has been violated.
Family therapy allows these frustrations to be aired in a supportive environment right here in Vancouver. A trained counsellor mediates, and helps the family stay on track with their purpose. When the whole family is treated, the overall addiction treatment becomes more effective.
Family therapy explores the root causes that often fuel addiction. Early on in the therapy sessions, trained counselors help families to identify personal and collective goals. When emotions run high, therapists can guide the family back to their original purpose.
Vancouver Interventions Work – You’re Not Alone
As millions of parents, siblings and others can attest addiction is a family disease. Everyone is affected, or compromised when their needs come second to the impaired relative. Often, the entire family is held hostage by the crisis of a loved one’s drug or alcohol addiction.
Contrary to voyeuristic TV portrayals, an ethical professional intervention doesn’t have to be an ambush. There’s no physical coercion; it’s more of a loving invitation to change. And family members are changing also, learning new ways to relate to addiction.
Our Vancouver drug and alcohol professionals use various models of intervention to motivate a loved one into treatment. The original intervention protocol, the Johnson Model, does carry an element of surprise as family members confront the addict directly about the damage the drinking or drug use has caused. Members of the addict’s social network state in clear terms the consequences that will happen if treatment is refused.
Many interventionists now prefer a more non-confrontational approach that puts the entire family in recovery. We can discuss with you what options would work best for your families particular situation. The goal is to educate and empower families with options if the loved one refuses treatment. Nobody can fix the addict without the addict’s cooperation; ultimately the impaired person must fully commit to recovery. We can help provide information that empowers them to make different, healthier choices. The same holds true for the family.
Find an Interventionist in Vancouver Today
We are here to help you through every aspect of recovery. Let us call you to learn more about our treatment options. Andy Bhatti Addiction Services and Interventions in Vancouver can help you facilitate a successful intervention so don’t be shy; call us at 1-888-960-3209.
Questions about Private Detox and Treatment Options Available in Vancouver?
If you are committed to keeping your family together, then contact Andy Bhatti Addiction Services and Interventions at our toll-free number 1-888-960-3209. We offer family therapy, as well as other addiction treatment therapies for all types of conditions. Call us to find out more about our family therapy programs in Vancouver, BC.