SFP 001 – Options for Families Dealing with A Family Member who is Addicted to Drugs or Alcohol
This podcast was released September 26, 2013, by the original owners of this website when it was called SoberFamilies.com.
Luckil,y access to CRAFT-based resources has greatly increased in the more than 10 years since this podcast was originally recorded! As a family member struggling with a loved one’s concerning behavior, you have many more options today! Possibilities include: working with an individual provider (see our provider directory here), joining a group (check out the ongoing groups available here), attending a CRAFT-based event (see the Family Event page here), and self-study through websites, podcasts, and books. All of these are great options to help you learn the skills to be effective in increasing the potential for change and recovery within your family!
In this episode of The Helping Families Help Podcast (formerly Sober Families Podcast), we talked with Dr. Christeine Terry about the kinds of options that family members have for dealing with an addicted loved one. The focus was not on the kinds of treatments are available for the person with addiction, but what kind of options are there to help the family, who often suffer and struggle because of their loved one’s addiction.
In this podcast, we reviewed five options for family members dealing an addicted loved one. These options are relevant whether your addicted loved one is dealing with drugs, alcohol, or another addiction. It’s also relevant whether the loved one is your husband, wife, son, daughter or other relative. You might be in a family with 10 people who are all impacted by the addiction, or the person with addiction might be your husband and your family of 2.
I wish I could tell you that there was a magic formula for getting your loved one sober and getting your life back, but we’re still working on that ourselves. However, Dr. Terry has done a lot of work with family members of people with addiction and there are a variety of options that can be helpful for families and couples in this situation.
It often feels isolating and overwhelming to be a loved one of a person who is abusing drugs or alcohol. It often comes with a lot of shame, fear, and anger and families can feel overwhelmed and confused about what to do. These options are all there to give you some direction.
We’re not here to tell you that there’s one right way to help your addicted loved one or yourself. We know that each family and each couple deals with addiction in their own way and makes their own solutions. In today’s episode we’re here to tell you about the options that are out there and have been shown to be helpful for people in these kind of situations.
In this podcast we talk about:
5 options the families have for helping addicted loved one
Reasons why you might want to consider each approach
Reasons why you might not want to consider each approach
The research evidence for each one of these approaches
Items mentioned in this podcast include:
5 options for families dealing with addiction
CRAFT: Community Reinforcement and Family Training
Domestic violence resources in relationships that involve addiction