Millions of people struggle with the symptoms and effects of serious conditions including substance use disorders, eating disorders, and mental illnesses. Some people are even diagnosed with more than one of these conditions, making their lives much more complex and challenging. And while the afflicted individuals partake in the behaviors that keep their substance use disorders, eating disorders, and/or mental illnesses going, family members are often left feeling banished to the sidelines.
When a loved one is experiencing one of these conditions, his or her family members can experience a flood of different emotions ranging from heartbreak and pervasive sadness to anger and resentment. For some people, all of these feelings can be felt in one day alone. The physical, emotional, and psychological toll that a loved one’s substance use disorder, eating disorder, and/or mental illness can have on his or her family can be monumental, causing his or her parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and even friends to become trapped within their own cycles of negative behavior.
With the understanding that addiction, eating disorders, and mental illnesses are conditions that impact the entire family, it is imperative that each member of the family who is affected by one or more of these conditions receives the appropriate care and guidance during this time, too. When one member of a family is sick, so are the other members of the family, as families work as units regardless of how close or distant they are from one another. Everyone’s actions produce reactions that ripple throughout the family unit. Therefore, families of someone with one of these conditions can benefit significantly from participating in a Los Angeles family therapy program.
Breathe's Focus on the Los Angeles Family Therapy Program
Knowing how much families are affected by addiction, eating disorders, and mental illnesses, the family therapy program in Los Angeles ensures that all family members are involved in obtaining an education about these conditions and determining what their recoveries look like, as well as several other factors that can help them move forward hand-in-hand with their loved one as they venture into their new lives.
One of the first things that the Los Angeles family therapy program will discuss with family members of the loved one is the effect that the addiction, eating disorder, and/or mental illness has had on each one of them. Through that discussion, families will be introduced to self-care tactics that can help them rebuild some of their strength and happiness. Self-care is much more than just taking a long bath or treating oneself to a nice dessert. Self-care encompasses a way of life that can help individuals impacted by a loved one’s condition to preserve their own health and wellbeing without giving him or herself up entirely to the afflicted individual.
In conjunction with self-care comes the development of boundaries. It is extremely common for family members to enter into a family program in Los Angeles and have no set boundaries with their loved ones. The lack of boundaries only perpetuates negative behaviors and the continuation of toxic relationships, which is why through the family therapy program in Los Angeles, families can learn what kinds of boundaries to set for themselves and their loved ones, as well as when to set them.
In addition to working on self-care tactics and setting boundaries, those who participate in our Los Angeles family therapy program will also focus on the following:
- Relapse prevention
- Recovery education
- Roles in the family
- Goals and expectations
- Securing the nest family
- Home safe
- Faith and focus
Along the way, families of a loved one with a substance use disorder, eating disorder, or mental illness will find ways to fill in the gaps between where they stand currently and where they want to be in the near future.
Family Programs We Offer
There comes great benefit when family members take the time and make the effort to participate in a loved one’s recovery process by working on their own personal recovery. The family therapy programs we offer put a strong focus on helping all members of the family recover, which is why there are two separate programs available.
Family Class
Family class is an online-based program that families can participate in once a week for one hour at a time. Through this class, families can start to address the negative issues and behaviors that are occurring within the family unit and start working through the underlying causes surrounding them in an effort to promote peace, understanding, and acceptance. This class can be conducted over the phone or online and is a perfect option for those who are not in the area and/or are unable to engage in the 5-day family workshop.
5-Day Family Workshop in Los Angeles
For five days, families are invited to participate in the 5-day family workshop where they can begin to identify, manage, and start to recover from the behaviors that the family has fallen in to as a result of the chaos that a loved one’s condition has triggered.
This might include placing focus on issues such as co-dependency and enabling, as well as interpersonal relationships and communication skills. The 5-day family workshop is designed to gather family members together in a space that is separate from their everyday lives so that they can focus solely on the well-being of their family.
The Los Angeles family therapy program is one that can meet the many different needs of the families of those who have deep, troubling, and complex conditions such as addiction, eating disorders, and mental illnesses.
Mend Your Familial Relationships With Our Family Therapy Programs
If you and your family are struggling with the effects of conditions such as those listed above, know that you do not need to keep on the path towards self-destruction. You and your family can obtain the care that is needed to better yourselves in the midst of what might feel like an all-out crisis.
As your loved one is obtaining treatment, do what you can to get help for yourself by participating in Breathe’s Los Angeles family therapy program. Doing so can make a huge difference in your life and the lives of your loved ones.
Do not let another day go by. Reach out for more information today.
