Family Strategies Book

Addiction passes through families generationally, and is said to be the gift that goes on giving. The use of Family Strategiesis an opportunity for the gift to become that of recovery, the possibility of changing the individual, the immediate family, and the inter-generational transmission of addictive disorders. Change begins with one person. From a systematic viewpoint, when one person changes the way he or she functions within the family system, that system will change. This is readily evident when addiction enters a family system, and it is just as apparent when recovery enters that system. In a therapeutic setting it is easy for the practitioner, the addicted person, and the family to view the addicted person as the identified client, the addicted person is the predominant focus. Family Strategies facilitates shifting perspective to the family system and the family members. The strategies presented are proven most effective in primary family systems therapy when addiction is either still active or the addicted person is in early recovery. It is invaluable irrespective of the type of addiction, whether it is substance addiction, behavior, or process addiction. This workbook is composed of five sections:

1. Viewing the Family Addiction
2. Stepping Out of the Shadows
3. Recognizing the Family Dance
4. Developing Emotional Clarity
5. Walking the Path of Recovery

A sampling of sessions included are: Codependency As An Addiction - Sharing the Disease - Giving Up Control - Role Patterns - Impaired Family - Shame Attacks - Drama Triangle - Portrait of Recovery This book is intended for use by clinicians, addiction counselors, and mental health care practitioners who are already skilled in understanding addictive disorders and their impact on families. It is used quite effectively with spouses, partners, parents, and adolescent or adult age children. In many sessions it is appropriate to include the addicted person, but that is at the facilitator's discretion. In many of the strategies sections, ideas and formats are presented for structured interventions. The use of handouts in the form of written exercises, checklists, sentence stems, structured dialogues and/or art activities is an integral part of this therapeutic technique. All handouts are designed for clinicians to reproduce and use without restriction as to copyright permission. The audio CD, Letting Go Imageries, offers meditations on healing and recovery. The specific imageries are:

• Letting Go of Control
• Letting Go of the Pain of Grief
• Letting Go of Resentments
• Connecting to a Higher Power
• Letting Go of Secrets
• Affirmation Imagery

State of the Art Materials Mac Publishing has remained strong and true to the mission statement created since Claudia Black Ph.D., began authoring books, CDs and DVDs in the 1980s: To provide educational materials for use by both the lay person and helping professional based on Best Practice Standards of evidence based therapies.