The Importance of Chosen Family

Family involvement is important for a successful recovery from substance abuse, but your chosen family is just as invaluable. Sometimes the people you choose to call family are more supportive and loving than your traditional family members.

What exactly is a chosen family? How can both families be incorporated into recovery? What are the dangers of not having family support in recovery? These are just a few questions that you may have when you are new to your life of recovery. The Lakehouse Recovery Center believes in the importance of incorporating family into the treatment process for those seeking recovery. Sometimes, however, there are valid clinical concerns about family engagement in treatment.

The Importance of Family Counseling in Addiction Treatment

Addiction significantly impacts the family as a whole, which makes family counseling crucial for helping not only yourself, but also your family. Family therapy typically focuses on educating the primary family members on addiction, mental health, and how all members of the family can support you while in recovery.

In fact, one of the goals of family counseling is to help strengthen the support network for you during recovery. Knowing that you have a family who is focused on supporting you the best they can is a game-changer for a successful recovery.

Family counseling also teaches the importance of boundaries and communication. Improved communication in itself improves a household. Being able to effectively communicate thoughts, feelings, and concerns create an environment more conducive to recovery and an overall happier family. For these reasons, everyone who walks through the doors of the Lakehouse Recovery has the chance for family counseling if they want it. Unfortunately for some, family interaction can be harmful to you and your recovery, which is why you may turn to your chosen family for support.

Dysfunctional Families

If you grew up in a family where communication was impaired, or you were unable to emotionally connect with members of your family, then you may have grown up in a dysfunctional family. Dysfunctional families typically experience ineffective communication. Growing up in that environment can cause you to have difficulty expressing yourself, which can lead to substance use.

If you were raised in a dysfunctional family, you may have watched your parents abusing drugs or alcohol. Dysfunctional families can also be characterized by neglect, abuse, or violence within the family unit. This trauma can cause you to turn to substance use as a way to cope.

In situations of abusive families or families where substance abuse is present, engagement during treatment is counterproductive. Perhaps you will come to a point in your recovery where you will be able to help your parents or other immediate members of your family with their addiction struggles, but first, you must address your own substance abuse issues.

To create a life of recovery for yourself you may need to be cut off from these dysfunctional family characteristics. That is why creating a family of your own is essential, so that you can have a support network of people who love and care for you and your recovery.

What Do We Mean by Chosen Family?

Family means different things to different people. You may consider your friends to be family. Friendships are unique in that you might be more comfortable confiding in your friends than you are confiding in your family because, typically, friends typically do not judge.

During your time in recovery, family, to you, may consist of members of your support network. Especially during treatment, you will create bonds among your peers. These bonds help you get through treatment and transition into recovery. Even if you come from the most loving family you may struggle to feel understood.

Regardless of where you seek addiction treatment, having a recovery plan will help you to stay on your path to long-term recovery. For you, this might mean being able to help others on your path to recovery. That might entail attending support group meetings, staying in contact with people you meet in treatment, or continuing some form of family counseling.

Whichever way benefits your recovery, keep in mind that the people you surround yourself with are your family. They are the ones you can share your successes with and lean on when you need support. That is what it means to be family.

The Lakehouse Difference

The Lakehouse Recovery Center focuses on offering you a unique curriculum of programs to help you on your path to recovery. We focus on optimizing your experience in an attempt to help change lives and rebuild families. At the Lakehouse there is no one approach to treatment. The approach is individualized and should make you feel empowered in your recovery.

If you are suffering from addiction and are afraid that you may not have a family to support you on your path to recovery, reach out to the Lakehouse today. Not only will our treatment programs help you achieve of life of recovery, but you will find a family of support within these programs to continue guiding you on your path. The road to recovery does not have to be one you take alone. Embark on the path with the Lakehouse today.

Family involvement is important for a successful recovery. For that reason, the Lakehouse Recovery Center makes a point of offering family counseling to every client that comes through the door. We focus on optimizing our client’s experience in an attempt to help change lives and rebuild families. Unfortunately, not everyone has that family of support available to them. Some may come from dysfunctional families where family engagement may threaten recovery. In those cases, clients need to have their chosen family to lean on. Chosen families are comprised of friends, loved ones, and other members of support networks. Seeking treatment at the Lakehouse can offer the opportunity to bond with peers who understand better than most what you are going through. To start your path to recovery and begin creating a chosen family of people who understand the importance of supporting recovery, call the Lakehouse Recovery today at (877) 762-3707.