The entire family system needs to be held in the safety of empathic,
Family Portrait – Montreal 1963 (Photo credit: Mikey G Ottawa)
savvy clinicians and caregivers who can view each family individually rather than as cookie-cutter cutouts. We understand that each family is different and dealing with issues unique to their family system, however, there are similarities that occur in all families that find themselves confronted with mental health and substance abuse: abandonment, fear, shame, anger, resentment, sadness, confusion, and denial. Visions is a treatment community passionately working with families to facilitate healing from the roots up. We recognize that many families feel unheard, as though cries for help or worries about loved ones have fallen upon deaf ears. Our family program recognizes this and provides several avenues of care; families find themselves and their difficulties to be seen, heard, and validated.
The goal is to redirect a family from using the familiar, albeit maladaptive methods of anger, frustration and substance abuse to manage difficulties. When a family is screaming at each other, communication is at a standstill. When a family is numbing out with drugs and alcohol, communication is at a standstill. When a family is enmeshed with an addict or alcoholic, the communication is at a standstill. These are all unhealthy ways of self-regulation and communication.
Families come to treatment seeking relief from the pain of watching their child suffer and from the effects of that suffering; they want their child to get better and they want their lives back. Sometimes, after their child gets healthy, they find themselves continuing to feel angry and frustrated. Visions asks that parents come to family groups, individual family sessions with a therapist, and even seek outside help to address these feelings. We all have things we need to look at, and nothing brings things to the surface like a tear in the family fabric. One person healing doesn’t mean everyone else automatically heals too; everyone has to do the work.
Visions encourages parents to utilize outside resources for self-investigation and to heal:
- Individual therapy
- Al-anon
- CoDA
- Parent Support Groups
It is our goal to provide the utmost support and care for the families that come through Visions. We want to see the family system thrive again, not just one branch of it. Help is just a phone call away.
Originally posted on March 28, 2014 @ 10:58 pm
