La Hacienda

What exactly is Family Program: Part 1 of 2

The Family Program is designed to help patients, family members and significant others increase their understanding of chemical dependency.  The educational format provides information on alcoholism/addiction, codependency, family dynamics, communication, recovery and relapse prevention.  The three and a half day program begins on Monday morning and concludes on Thursday afternoon.  The Family Program is available free of charge to participants.

Collegiate After Care Boundaries: Part 4 of 4

The boundaries have been set, the expectations have been stated, now what happens if lines are crossed?

If requirements are not met, including relapse, consequences and family boundaries should be enforced.

• Will you allow patient to come home if they are dicharged from sober living, relapsed, or not following through with their recovery plan?
• Financial support:  Where will your financial support end if your collegiate is in relapse mode? (be specific: cell phone, car payment, cash allowance, legal counsel)
• Encourage your collegiate to seek out support from local recovering community if they are interested or willing to get back into recovery.
• Include a statement about not participating if they are not willing to engage in self care or the recvoery process.  Example statement: “We refuse to participate if…” 

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Collegiate After Care Boundaries: Part 3 of 4

Last week was action that you can take; this week it is what are your expectations of the patient.  

Boundary 2: List what expectations you have of the patient in order to support the recovery plan.  What are they responsible for?

• Total abstinence from drugs and alcohol
• Abide by sober living or home rules (be very specific; chores, curfew, and any other house rules)
• Follow through with planned therapeutic interventions after treatment (outpatient, therapy, medication management)
• Be active in recovery program.  Parent tip: Do not dictae specifics in this area.  Patients are responsible for their own program.
• Agree upon a communication schedule with family to keep members involved in the recovery process and updated. 

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Collegiate After Care Boundaries: Part 2 of 4

Last week we took a look at creating a mission statement and we received a lot of good feedback on facebook.  This week we are looking at the first boundary that has everything to do with what action YOU can take.

Boundary 1: List what you will or can participate in initially:

• financial support for sober living
• professional guidance
• prescriptions
• appropriate and limited allowance
• any miscellaneous expenses discussed and agreed upon before hand

For every family this will look a little different; there is no one size fits all.  The good news is you don’t figure it all out by yourself because the case manager will help you walk through the process.  

Collegiate After Care Boundaries: Part 1 of 4

This is one of the most common questions our collegiate case managers answer!  Families have hopefully begun an alanon program, learned about the disease and recovery process in family week, and know that they need to change their behavior in the family system also. 

Over the next four weeks we will be going through what La Hacienda recommends as far as an After Care Boundaries guide.  First, let’s start with a mission statement:

Create a statement that describes purposes or needs to support your collegiate’s recovery needs and family participation.  Example statement: “We will continue to support anything having to do with your recovery process and well being as well as our own personal and family boundaries….”

In the next 3 weeks we will be looking at boundaries that are both emotional and financial for the well-being of all involved.

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A Message from the Grave Yard

Remember Ed?  When he worked as a case manager at La Ha he would write down stories of the miracles and examples of God working in his patients lives.  He has sent me a few of these powerful records.  They are stories of spiritual awakenings and healing that happen on our campus day in and day out.

The Grave Stone

A patient came to me and told me a story about going to a grave yard and doing service work by straightening up the flowers and picking up the trash. While there he noticed a grave stone that marked the grave of a young man, it showed his birth date and the date of his death. The grave stone next to it appeared to be that of his fathers, when reading the inscription he realized that there was no date of death. My patient suddenly remembered what his father had said to him when he had brought him to treatment. “I have worried for so long that I would lose you and that the drugs would take your life”. He said that he suddenly became over come with sorrow and began to weep when he realized how much suffering he had caused his family and loved ones. 

Do you have a question for our family program staff?  Do you have a testimonial about your experience in our family program?? 

Addiction is a family disease and therefore a family solution is imperative!  Family members that are starting this path have so many questions and not a lot of places to go for real information.  The good news?  We have knowledgable family staff members that many of you know from when you were in treatment.  What about your experience 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days after your family week?  Do you have a testimonial about what you learned and the impact it is having today?

You can either comment on facebook or email me for privacy, kblack@lahacienda.com.  If you have a specific question for a certain staff member that will work too!! 

Don’t be shy, your questions could help someone else….

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