What is Family Therapy?
Conflict within the family system can contribute significantly to a teen’s presenting problems, making family therapy an essential aspect of treatment. At Evolve, all clients participate in family therapy, typically with their parents and/or other familial caregivers. These family therapy sessions occur weekly at all levels of care. While there are many approaches to family therapy, our Primary Therapists typically take a solution-focused, skills-based approach.
At the start of treatment, each teen’s Primary Therapist will collaborate with the teen and their family members to identify relevant goals for family therapy. Common family therapy goals may include improving effective communication, helping parents learn to set limits and validation, and helping teens learn to tolerate limits and communicate their needs effectively. Teens and their families can then practice the tools they are learning during daily phone time and weekly visitation.
Our Primary Therapists provide psychoeducation to parents and other caregivers on mental health and substance use disorders to help them better understand what their teen is going through and how they can help. Since learning effective coping skills is a key part of treatment for teens at Evolve, the clinical teams ensure that parents are learning many of these skills alongside their teens and that the skills are practiced during family therapy sessions. In our PHP/IOP programs, parents and clients learn skills together during weekly Multifamily Groups.
Support for Families
You are not alone—the families of your teen’s peers in treatment are going through many of the same things you are. We understand that peer support often feels valuable and different than support from mental health professionals. To meet this need and to provide a sense of community among the families we treat, Evolve provides weekly virtual Parent Support Groups. Open to current and past families of Evolve clients, these groups provide space for families to support one another, learn from one another, and stay motivated to continue the hard work of supporting a teen loved one in crisis.
Evolve also offers a weekly parent support group that is open to any parent.
Off-Site Resources for Teens and Families
Depending on the needs of your family, Evolve may connect you with resources in your community, including:
- Al-Anon
- Nar-Anon
- Co-Dependents Anonymous
- Dual Recovery Anonymous
- Adult Children of Alcoholics
- Parents of Addicted Loved Ones (PAL)
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Family Support Groups