Family therapy is a part of just about every drug and alcohol rehab facility’s treatment plan in the country. Some are effective, some are less effective, but everyone’s intentions are justified and honorable when incorporating family into treatment. Traditionally, most rehab centers focus the majority of their treatment on the individual.
That is the standard medical model. Clinicians will deal with the substance abuse, depression or anxiety, and then, later on, delve into the secondary issues affecting the person like their family, job, finances, friends, etc. After residential treatment, they’ll leave and go to a sober living facility and the focus will stay the same all the way through, based on the individual. The goal of most of these rehab facilities is to make the individual healthy enough to go back into their old environment and be okay.
Systemic Family Therapy at Destination Hope
Destination Hope’s attitude towards family therapy is quite different from the standard medical model. Their approach doesn’t begin with the individual first and the family after. They actually begin with the family first. Every addict who comes through their door is viewed as a representative of their family, and treatment is tailored to the individual with the entire family in mind.
This treatment modality is called systemic thinking, or systems thinking. This means that the individual is attached to a whole family, and you have to constantly be looking at the larger picture of this person and their environment. The treatment approach changes drastically when you take into account the personal belief system the individual has and how much of their viewpoints were shaped by messages they received from their family. This sort of insight from family therapy is invaluable.
It’s important to really get to know as many family members as possible to gain a broader perspective of the person in treatment. Who in the family is the healthiest? Who has the most impact on the person in treatment? Who is the easiest family member for them to manipulate into unwittingly endorsing their behavior? Identifying these different roles each family member plays in the addict’s life enables the counselors to approach them on a much deeper level armed with genuine substance.
This tactic is implemented privately and in family therapy and can serve as a real wake-up call to the addicted individual. Everything from the origin of issues, roles, boundaries, rituals and beliefs will be analyzed extensively, with necessary changes identified and guided carefully.
Destination Hope is a full-service drug, alcohol and dual diagnosis treatment center in South Florida. The entire platform from the moment you walk into Destination Hope is based around the belief system that you are not just an individual, but more accurately an intricate part of an entire system, your family.
Our number one priority is to heal you as a unit so when you part ways with us you already have the essential and positive support system in place to bolster your recovery efforts. If you or a loved one is having problems with drugs or alcohol, there will never be a better time than right now to reach out to us so we can help. Call us today!
