San Jose Family Recovery Program at Wellness Retreat Recovery Center
Addiction is a disease, one with a unique set of symptoms and effects. Unlike other illnesses, addiction causes the sufferer to act and behave in ways that may alienate or otherwise profoundly impact the immediate family or loved ones of the substance user. When one refers to addiction as a “family disease” it is because drug abuse hurts everyone in the family network, not just the person who is addicted. Oftentimes direct family members experience some degree of trauma due to either the direct actions of the addict or alcoholic (e.g. violent outbursts, stealing, etc) or due to the constant feeling of fear and apprehension that the person could die, be injured, or be arrested.
At Wellness Retreat Recovery Center, we believe that addiction truly is a family disease, and therefore we treat it as such. That means working with the family as well as the substance use disorder sufferer and integrating a program of family recovery into that person’s treatment and individual recovery
Our staff at Wellness Retreat Recovery Center likes to stress the importance of families being involved in their loved one’s recovery, as well as family members receiving the professional help they may need too. We offer many different family recovery programs, including:
Intervention:
In an ideal world, every person afflicted with a substance use disorder would just recognize the unmanageable nature of their lives and surrender to professional treatment. Unfortunately, many in addiction are unable to see or care about the damage they are causing themselves and others, due to the nature of addiction itself. Other times, the addict or alcoholic may have expressed the desire to stop using drugs and alcohol, but may also be conflicted and ambivalent about doing so, or about attending an inpatient treatment center. Our admissions specialists at Wellness Retreat have a keen understanding of the substance abuse mindset, because of our years of experience working in the addiction treatment field. We are ready to assist your family in preparing your loved one for entering detox or residential treatment. Sometimes this requires a formal intervention or the help of a highly skilled professional interventionist. WRRC can refer you to an accredited interventionist, who can coordinate with our team and your family to help facilitate your loved one getting the help they need
Family Education:
At Wellness Retreat Recovery Center, we firmly believe that the family cannot be left in the dark during a monumentally transformational process like starting recovery from chronic substance misuse. As a result, our job is to educate the family about our therapeutic process, with the client’s permission, so they can better understand what their loved one is going through. Just as the addict or alcoholic is learning healthy communication and coping skills during treatment, for when they ultimately re-integrate with the family, so too does the family need to learn how to encourage recovery and also to heal themselves. Family members are often unaware of what expectations to have, what are warning signs or relapse, if they are enabling, and if they are setting healthy boundaries for the newly returned addicted member of the family. Our treatment team can also refer your family to an appropriate outside resource, such as Al-Anon or a family therapist.
Family Therapy:
If you have a loved one attending Wellness Retreat Recovery Center, and you are an involved family member, we want to make the process as open to you as possible. This entails making sure your voice is heard, and that you can express yourself in a healthy and controlled environment. One of the ways we do that is by providing weekly family therapy sessions. These therapy sessions are run by the client’s primary therapist and include the client at Wellness and immediate family members, such as a spouse, significant other, parents, or adult children. Topics covered include enhancing communication, aftercare plans, and exploring unhealthy family dynamics. For our clients with family out of the area, we offer a weekly conference call or secure video-chat family therapy sessions as well. In addition, we also offer educational groups on weekends for family members, so that they can learn more about the disease of addiction. Please contact our Admissions department at 1-855-SOBER-WR to learn more about our family recovery program and educational group schedule.
Family Recovery: Because Addiction is Greater than Any One Individual
Being a family member or loved one of someone struggling with addiction can be a terrifying and incredibly frustrating experience. Addiction is like no other disease or disorder in existence, in how it can influence the behaviors of the sufferer, making them self-destructive. You may barely recognize the family member you once knew so well, and the prospect of watching them kill themselves with drugs or alcohol can be completely disheartening. At Wellness Retreat, we want to begin the recovery process for the individual and their family, and lend our expertise to help rebuild the family unit as a whole.
So how does this work? It begins with a period of separation. The addict and alcoholic need to be removed from his or her current environment, so they can focus on healing themselves and becoming a productive member of the family. That means separation from any triggers, pressures, dysfunctional, or unhealthy relationships. WRRC believes in longer-term treatment, typically 60-90 days inpatient followed by a detailed aftercare plan, which may or may not include ongoing family therapy based upon the personal needs of the client. This separation period also gives the family time to recover from the constant stress and trauma of having an active addict or alcoholic around constantly. At Wellness Retreat, you can rest easy knowing that your family member is in a safe place receiving the help they desperately need.
The active addiction of your family member at WRRC may be only one component of the overarching problem. Oftentimes individuals suffering from a substance use disorder have a dual diagnosis co-morbidity that also requires treatment, such as bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, or generalized anxiety or depression. Our six-client treatment program offers one of the best staff-to-client ratios of any addiction rehab in the country, providing tailored and personalized to each client and their unique needs. We will develop a unique program during and after treatment that satisfies addiction and dual diagnosis conditions.
Addiction is sometimes referred to as a family disease, meaning that at times more than one member of the family is dealing with addiction or another dual diagnosis disorder. Our weekly family recovery sessions and educational groups are there to help the health of the entire family so that neither the family client nor his loved ones are forced to navigate the treacherous waters of early recovery alone.
Addiction doesn’t just disappear. Your loved one desperately needs professional help. Many families believe that their addicted loved one must hit “rock bottom” in order to be helped. Unfortunately, rock bottom for many substance abusers means death. It is vital that your addicted loved one is treated professionally before it’s too late.
