Family Counseling

Family counseling is a type of group counseling that addresses how addiction affects you and your loved ones. During sessions, you and your family members -- which may include your parents, siblings, significant other, and/or children -- speak together with a therapist present. The therapist helps guide conversations and ensures everyone’s voice is heard.

Family counseling helps you receive the support you need for sobriety. It also helps reveal underlying issues in your family that may have contributed to your addiction. Even family members who are not addicted to a substance can find support for better mental health through family counseling services.

Family counseling is often used in combination with other treatments, such as group counseling, individual counseling, and/or medications that help treat addiction, like anti-depressants.

Family counselors create an atmosphere where thoughts and feelings can be expressed in a non-confrontational way. During family counseling, you and your family members all have a chance to speak about difficulties in your lives that may be related to addiction.

Your therapist teaches you all positive coping skills and strategies to deal with unhealthy behaviors without enabling addiction. They may also teach you positive communication skills to help build stronger relationships, self-care strategies to improve individual mental health, and how to avoid codependent behaviors that hinder recovery.

Ongoing family counseling both during and after addiction treatment can help you and your family maintain a strong relationship and continue to heal. You may have family counseling sessions weekly for many months to see the best results.

Although relapses may occur, the love and support of family can help you achieve long-term abstinence. Research has shown that when family counseling is not part of addiction treatment, the likelihood of relapse is much greater since the familial problems that led to addiction often remain.

Family counseling teaches everyone to work together to battle addiction and potential relapses. Armed with the proper knowledge and skills, the family provides a strong foundation to help make recovery successful and permanent.

At Cayuga Addiction Recovery Services, we strive to help families heal and grow together. Contact us today to learn more about our family counseling services.