The change & influence for your family

You can’t control your loved one but you can influence them. Addiction is called “a family disease” for good reason. Family members are profoundly affected when a loved one becomes addicted to alcohol or another drug. For these close family members, the mental, emotional, relational and financial impact of substance abuse is overwhelming to deal with— without the added burden of stress involving how to help a loved one through addiction (which itself is more than enough to bear). Inevitably, too, the family dynamics that enabled a drug or alcohol habit can be hard to break, only further complicating the urgent task of recovery. By the time most families reach out for help the situation has progressed to a crisis level for everyone involved. Our philosophy, treatment options and therapeutic services at 1 Method Center are designed to help not only people who have addiction but the entire family—from spouses to parents or caregivers to siblings and children—because everyone affected by alcohol or other drug abuse needs support, care and healing.

More about our family programs.

Through a variety of resources, our family services provides your whole family the opportunity to begin your own journey of recovery.

Recovery is stronger when all family members understand the nature of drug addiction and are involved in the healing process. By educating you about the disease of addiction and the different ways family members are affected—whether parent, child, spouse or partner—our programs and services help you:

Work through the chaos you’re experiencing

Set healthy boundaries

Rebuild trusting relationships

Improve communication with one another

Families naturally want to know how family therapy can help their loved one. They should find hope and solace in knowing that a large body of research has shed light on the many benefits of family counseling for addiction. These include:

Greater awareness on the part of you and your loved one about your feelings and behaviors, and how these may be contributing to a substance abuse problem.

Healthy stress coping devices (“self-care”) that help you better care for yourself as you care for your loved one.

Tools for improving the quality of your relationship, including healthier communication skills.

Education about codependency and behaviors that may be enabling an addiction and how to correct these dysfunctional patterns.

Greater understanding about how addiction is a “family disease” that affects the whole family system and the necessary components of a healthy family system that deters substance abuse and motivates recovery.

Lowering the risks of passing on an addiction to future generations.

Reducing the symptoms of a dual diagnosis or co-occurring mental illness that affects nearly half of all people with addiction and is often closely linked with substance abuse

The benefits of treatment

Considered together, the many benefits of family counseling for addiction illustrate why family therapy matters to recovery. In addition, research has shown that substance abuse family support and therapy can improve treatment outcomes, by:

Encouraging a loved one to enter treatment
Improving the effectiveness of treatment interventions
Decreasing problems associated with addiction
Lowering the risks of relapse

Detaching with love

A major focus of our program is helping people “let go” of taking responsibility for their loved one’s alcohol or drug addiction and/or recovery process. As a result of living in the midst of addiction, family members often need to refocus their energy on their own wellbeing and relationships because so much of their energy has been focused on the addict. This need to refocus is referred to as “detaching with love,” the idea of choosing to be in a relationship with someone you love and care for without losing yourself in the relationship. It means not doing for others what they need to do for themselves. It means loving the person, but not necessarily his or her behaviors.

Adapting these new beliefs and practicing these new behaviors does not happen overnight. Encouragement, affirmation and the support of other people who know what it’s like to live with addiction will help you navigate this new territory. Getting involved in your own support group, such as a Twelve Step meeting like Al-Anon or Families Anonymous, will be of tremendous help. These Twelve Step support groups can be found in virtually every community. They provide an ideal follow-up to our Family Program, by helping you practice and strengthen your recovery skills.