The Family Hour – A New Lecture Series

Second Saturday of the Month 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. Join us for a monthly lecture and Q&A series that focuses on the disease of addiction and its inevitable impact on the entire family. Hosted by our Center for Recovering Families and facilitated by the Center’s Clinical Director Lori Fiester, LCSW-S, MAC, CIP, this community series is free and open to all families, loved ones, and members of our community who seek up-to-date, accurate information about addiction and related issues.  Registration Not Required. Family Legacy – 11/12/16 | Codependency – 12/10/16 | Enabling and Boundary-Setting – 1/14/17 | Shame Resilience – 2/11/17.

Why Family Matters…for Healing & Wholeness

Many families assume that once their addicted loved one has begun treatment, the rest of the family is just along for the ride, but this shows a major misunderstanding of treatment and recovery.

During treatment the client experiences tremendous growth. They learn to face feelings, use a new language to express them self, and find healthy ways to cope with changes and challenges. But while the client changes, the family may stay stuck in its old roles, following outdated rules. This maintains the painful system of suffering in silence, which allows addiction to thrive.

To get better, everyone needs to be involved in changing the rules of the game, so addiction isn’t dictating the rules any more. To help facilitate this growth–for everyone–the Center for Recovering Families’ treatment team invites the family into the recovery process. Along with their loved one, family members develop new skills for focusing on growth, discussing differences, and coping in healthy ways. When a family does this, research shows greatly increased success for long-lasting recovery.

Oddly enough, a lot of the healing takes place when family members are not in the same therapy sessions as their loved one in treatment. Starting in separate groups allows everyone to speak freely without worrying about following the old rules and roles of engagement. At the same time, families have the chance to connect with other families who are experiencing similar feelings and processes. This provides a safe place to learn empowering recovery language, establish goals for the future, and overcome the pain of the past.

Celebrating Recovery Together

A Message from Mel Taylor
President & CEO, The Council on Recovery
National Recovery Month has arrived–with one of our favorite themes: “Join the Voices for Recovery: Our Families, Our Stories, Our Recovery!” highlights the importance of families, communities, and individuals sharing stories of recovery. Unity in the family and community is an important part of The Council’s mission to “keep our community healthy, productive and safe…” In fact, the Center for Recovering Families focuses on family healing as a crucial path to reaching the “wholeness” that comes with true, lifelong recovery.

One of the clearest analogies for family healing is a mobile, like those attached to a baby’s crib. All the pieces need to be balanced and weighted evenly in order for the mobile to work properly. Similarly, a family functions more fully when all family members develop skills for facing their feelings and expressing themselves in healthy ways that lead to balance and wholeness.

Achieving this balance, as an individual or a family, is not as simple as fixing a child’s mobile. It is a long-term process where the journey is as important as the outcome. And looking back, one often sees that each step along the path is what the journey is truly about.

We encourage all of you to participate in Addicted to Comedy, the Run for Recovery or any of the many celebrations this month that will bring individuals, families, and organizations together in support of recovery. Join us in celebrating the joy, freedom, peace and healing that accompany the process of recovery from addiction.