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Supporting Recovery Together: The Impact of Family Involvement on Housing and Employment Outcome
The journey of recovery from substance abuse or mental health challenges requires a multifaceted approach. While professional interventions are crucial, the significance of family involvement cannot be overstated. This article explores how family support enhances housing and employment outcomes for...
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Nurturing Healing Within Our Homes: Pathways to Treatment Within the Family
Nature versus nurture has plagued our educational and sociological philosophy for decades in social service and the mental health field. The idea behind treating addiction as a “family disease” has long been established in the understanding that there is a genetic component to addiction and...
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An Overview of Family-Based Substance Use Therapy
Historically, individual therapy and group-based treatments have been the predominant modalities used in substance use disorder (SUD) treatment programs. However, there has been increased recognition among researchers, clinicians, and clients of the importance of family structure and how it plays a...
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Helping Families Cope with Serious Mental Illness: Maternal vs Social Work Instincts
I am a Social Worker. I am also a mom of an adult child with SMI, specifically bi-polar disorder. My child is 23 and I pray that she welcomes God into her life. That’s the mom in me talking. As a social worker, I want her to get a job, find a great partner who will love her, and become as...
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The Impact of Stigmatizing Language from Family and Clinical Perspectives
Mental health challenges can impact everyone. Even if you have not been personally affected, you likely know someone who has – whether it is a family member, friend, or an individual you support as a behavioral healthcare provider. Mental illness is defined as mental, behavioral, and emotional...
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Ask Dr. Max: Family Life Cycle and Mental Illness Challenges
It is important to start with the understanding that everyone thinking about and desiring to have a family is not only with great expectations but with many hopes and aspirations. Unexpected events result in shocks and traumas impacting everyone and each family system based on many factors...
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Federation of Organizations: A Family Affair
Families have been and continue to be instrumental in the development and implementation of treatment and support options for people with mental illness. Founded by family advocates, for the last 50 years Federation of Organizations (Federation) has been developing an array of community-based,...
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The Integral Role of Families in Promoting Mental Health and Managing Mental Illness
When you think about those at the forefront of managing mental health concerns – psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, counselors, and other professionals may come to mind. However, former Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher released a mental health report in 2000 that declared “families are...
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Mental Health and Families: Working Together to Strengthen and Support Loved Ones
Having a family member diagnosed with a mental illness can cause great stress and a deep sense of isolation. Mental health challenges are difficult to open up about because of the fear of judgment, believing that no one will understand. Relationships with family and friends can be difficult to...
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The Lens of Loss: Perspectives of Family Members Following Suicide Loss
When we think about the suicide of a loved one, we think of profound loss, of grief, of finding a way to endure amid unyielding pain. But we gain something in the aftermath, one nearly as burdensome. It is a new perspective: Loss becomes a lens through which life is lived. And it can be difficult...
