leznew

I was just wondering what to expect at the family program at my wifes treatment facility. She is a recovering opiate addict. I have made myself at peice while she has been gone. I havent talked to her much, and I am reading about her process of recovery.


I would also like to thank everyone on this site. Great information that gives you the true good and bad so you can except the future either way the coin falls.


:praying

Latte

I would call them and talk to them. The people at the rehab (I'm an addict in recovery and a child of an alcoholic) I went to spoke to my husband extensively, although he only went to a few family counseling sessions.

Thank you for being involved, recovery is a family affair.

leznew

The family program is four days long and I can only attend 2. I was a sociology major and I am kind of excited and curios.

pjbs55

I know of one rehab that has the 3 days family sessions. They talk to you about addiction, what to expect in recovery. They do recommend that you attend some sort of meeting, Nar-Anon, Al-Anon etc. They might have your wife come in for awhile so you both can talk about this and what the effect has been on the family.
Please take care of you.
Good luck

greeteachday

When my daughter was in rehab, her facility had a one week program - all day. It was like having recovery for us - really awesome! There was info on addiction, codependency, personalities, boundary setting, communication...just lots of self exploration and sharing. I was nervous at first then didn't want it to end...it was so healing. The last session of each day included the loved ones attending rehab and was focused on something that involved everyone (and not just a blame game or detailed personal session in public)

I'm glad you will be able to attend as much as you can and I hope you let us know how it was.

liesagain

I personally have had very different experiences with family sessions depending on the treatment center.

Some are great, some are misinformed...............so my suggestion is attend be open and willing but also maybe review some of the topics here or in a face to face meeting or with your other support sources

I say this because........in one treatment center we (the family) were actually given a list of do's and dont's and it basically told us to treat the addict family member as a sick child....don't expect to much help don't stress them with household events etc etc
and plainly said we could cause them to use.........which is 100% NOT true.

The treatment center my husband is in now has a great family program so as i said it all depends on the center
best of luck to you and your family

leznew

once again thanks for all the input. I am a big beleiver in Its your fault. Wake up look in the mirror in the morning and say it your fault. Its your fault for your successes, and its your fault for your failures. Learn from your failures grow from your successes. I want to be involved and supportive for her recovery process, but I will not get in the way of it. And I am not going to do anything I dont want to do anymore. My life is mine and hers is hers, we are married because we love each others company(at least we did at one time lol). Marriage means alot to me, because divorce seems to be an easy answer, and the easy answer is not always the best. Not to mention I love her very much. Life is a series of choices, when you start learning to make the right ones life gets alot easier. I think she will stay clean in my heart, because I know how strong of a person she is deep down inside.

PeaceTrain

I suppose it depends on the rehab that your loved one attends. My daughter's first rehab had a family program that was excellent. It was for five days, 9 - 5. The mornings were learning about addiction - info given to ous from MD's, scientists, counsellors. The afternoons were problem solving techniques, talks by recovering addicts and codependants, etc. They covered every aspect of addiction, it was all-encompassing. I felt as if I had completed a University course on the subject.
I have recommended this to many people who have addiction in their family because you can pay to attend the family session if your loved one is not in that rehab.
My experience has been most positive and it broadened my knowledge base extensively.
Good Luck and keep an open mind.

cherrie1

I too had a wonderful experience at my son's rehab. Go with an open mind. I think it is good that you are distancing yourself from her right now. The addict needs to work on themselves. We learned so much and it helped my husband understand the changes that occur in the brain when an addict uses. I myself believe that what may have started out as something enjoyable takes over and becomes a nightmare for all involved. I do believe he is an addict because of his poor choices but I also believe that no one wants to be an addict. And it is not as easy as just stopping. But they can when they want it enough. One other thing we have learned the hard way is 30 days in rehab is not enough, it takes a long time to recover.

JustAYak

From my own experience, it wasn't so great, however I was a child and who really wants to go to one when you're a kid. They talked a lot about detachment and how you were completely powerless in changing them. They would ask a question and go around the room to hear everyone's answer/thoughts on the subject. At the time I had to go, I was a child and my dad was in recovery, so they seperated all the kids in the room from the parents at one point and started asking us questions and stuff (I really really hated that part). It's hard to talk about so hopefully they'll make it easy on ya.

leznew

Once again thank all of you for the replies. Informaition is power.