The impact of addiction extends to the whole family. The parents, children, or siblings of someone struggling with a substance use disorder (SUD) can all experience the shattering effects of addiction. At CeDAR in Denver, CO, we offer programming for the families of loved ones in recovery. Our goal is to help family members understand dependence and addiction and to promote the healing of everyone in the family.
The family program at CeDAR helps the person struggling with addiction get better. How does it do so? A family is typically the main support network of people struggling with SUDs. Having family members undergo therapy together allows them to understand addiction better and learn better communication habits that help resolve any family dysfunction. Better family relationships can only lead to a better chance of a successful recovery. You and your family can learn more about CeDAR’s family assistance program by calling us at 720.848.3000 or using our online form.
What Is a Family Program?
When the family is part of the process, they become part of the solution. Close family relationships involve shared experiences, interconnectedness, and myriad overlapping emotions. The people in your family know you best and, as a result, can be the most significant source of support and healing. However, they can also cause great suffering. Focus on the former and eliminate the latter’s risk in a family program.
A family program promotes healing for everyone in that complex ecosystem known as family. In a family program, all participants will be:
- Challenged to explore their attitudes and behaviors
- Encouraged to face and articulate their emotions honestly
- Asked to communicate truthfully with one another
- Supported to face fears, such as causing hurt or losing a relationship
- Taught new skills to help repair broken connections and set healthy boundaries
CeDAR’s family program benefits everyone in the family. You are supported in your recovery, and your family heals, too.
How Does CeDAR’s Family Assistance Program Work?
CeDAR offers programs that guide and educate, focusing on many issues facing people struggling with addiction and their families. Some of the areas of focus include:
- Facts about the disease of addiction
- Interpersonal healing
- Improving communication
- Understanding family systems
- Understanding the roles within your family
- Building or rebuilding trust
- Codependency and enabling behaviors
- The role of 12-step programs for the whole family
- How to support long-term recovery
- Setting healthy boundaries
- Post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS)
- How trauma affects addiction
- Faith-based options for recovery
When you engage in a family program, you can bring your concerns and issues to the table to ensure your specific needs are met.
How Does a Family Program Help in Coping with Guilt and Other Painful Emotions?
One of the most damaging side-effects of addiction is guilt. As people in recovery begin to heal, they are often overwhelmed with guilt due to the pain and trauma they caused while in the throes of addiction. Their family is also frequently consumed with guilt, feeling somehow to blame for their loved one’s addiction, for not fixing it, and for somehow failing.
Addiction is a chronic disease, but guilt does not have to be. It is possible to face your past actions honestly, accept accountability, recognize the things you cannot take the blame for and let them go, and process all this emotional content healthily. In a family program, everyone in the family can work through painful emotions like guilt – as well as other feelings like anger and grief. This is when true healing can begin for all.
Consider CeDAR’s Family Assistance Program
Because we know recovery is possible and understand the power of family bonds, we take pride in our family program. As an integral part of our addiction treatment, our family assistance program can profoundly affect your recovery.
Call today by dialing 720.848.3000 or fill out our online form. We look forward to answering all your questions.