AdCare clinicians seek to involve the family at the outset of treatment. If the family calls or accompanies the patient to intake, we try to speak with them first. If patient came in on their own, clinicians ask them to identify important people in their lives, and ask for consent to contact those people. We typically have a two-part meeting, first with just the family, and then with both family and patient. Family members are given the opportunity to express their view of the severity of the problem, the resentments it may have caused and how they've been dealing with it.
Clinicians work to uproot any hostility and redirect it toward the patient's best interests.
The meeting also gives the clinician a chance to verify the patient's self-reported usage and to assess the environment the patient will be returning to following treatment. The damage substance abuse does to families can be considerable. Clinicians may find family members unwilling to take any part in the patient's recovery, either because of a patient's repeated treatment failures or abusive behavior resulting from substance abuse. In these cases, clinicians are trained to keep family members talking as long as possible. Often, once the anger has been vented, the person will calm down.