As I was leaving my office one day, I noticed a woman sitting on the bottom of the stairwell, holding her head in her hands and crying. I sat down next to her, and we began to talk. As she dried her eyes, I found out that she had just dropped her son off at our Youth Recovery Program. Though she understood the importance of getting help the fact he needed help at all made her feel like a failure.
“How did it come to this?” she asked me. “How did I fail him as a mother?”
I comforted her as best I could, but I could tell she was struggling with an unhealthy understanding of how addiction really works. Though I hoped my kind words would help, I knew that there was more that needed to be done.
That encounter made me take a serious look at how addiction affects families. My colleagues and I quickly realized that not only do families need our support as well but that by providing family support we could, in turn, better help individuals struggling with addiction.
A strong family support system can help an individual struggling with addiction on their journey to recovery and help them build lives that are full of purpose and free from addiction.
ReVisioning the Family
That moment inspired me to build and launch a family support program. This program, called ReVisioning the Family, teaches families how to thrive and survive in the face of addiction.
The program is eight weeks long and is offered remotely using a webinar style approach. Each week individuals, families, and groups tune in remotely to our live broadcast and participate in the discussion.
Throughout the course participants gain a healthy understanding of addiction, improve their own mental and emotional health, and learn how they can support their loved ones that are struggling with addiction while still maintaining healthy boundaries and practicing self-care.
All of our programs, including new ones like ReVisioning the Family, are fully donor supported. We are so grateful to our many generous donors who give us the financial support we need to help, heal, and support individuals living with addiction and their families.If you would like to learn more about our programs please visit our website. Questions about the ReVisioning the Family program can be directed to revisioning@calgarydreamcentre.com. You can also register for our ReVisioning the Family program via our online contact form.
