Addiction counselors put a lot of work into developing treatment programs for their patients. This is particularly true at treatment centers like Beaches Recovery where counselors treat patients as unique individuals. When someone enters treatment, the facility’s staff will typically interview them to gather information about the addiction. When a co-occurring issue might be affecting substance abuse, specific treatment modalities become indicated. If the co-occurring issues involve family members, behavioral family therapy makes the most sense.

What Is Behavioral Family Therapy?

Two young woman happy about behavioral family therapy at rehabThe primary objective of behavioral family therapy is to modify the addictive behavior of the user and the immediate family. Many times, people use drugs because they are suffering from problems like depression or relationship issues. Co-occurring issues usually require a more scientific approach to treatment. This type of therapy falls under evidence based practice.

Counselors usually administer behavioral family therapy on an outpatient basis. For a specified period, counselors will schedule and require the patient to attend therapy sessions. They will have to bring at least one other significant family member to the meeting. These meetings have nothing to do with assigning blame for the addiction. It’s all about problem and relationship resolution.

Working together, the family uses open dialogue to help identify possible issues. As issues pop up, the counselor investigates how the patient reacts to that set of problems. If using drugs is the reaction, the behavior is noted. With this information, the counselor can institute behavior modification interventions to help decrease the negative response.

Behavioral Family Therapy Interventions

So what exactly do we mean by interventions? These interventions are tools that people can use to help modify and control specific behaviors. In an addiction treatment center, the counselors want to stop the patient’s desire to use. There are three types of interventions that addiction counselors like to use.

1. Contracting–The patient creates a contract with their loved one. The contract typically requires the patient to do something like not using or communicating their feelings. When they successfully do these things, the family member or loved one respond with some reward. Likewise, failure to comply results in consequences.

2. Skills Development–It’s no secret that addicts have poor coping skills. They struggle with rules and social interactions. This type of intervention requires that the patient works with their loved one to develop coping skills for recovery. The counselor will ask that these coping skills lean towards communication capabilities and avoiding triggers and temptations.

3. Environmental Changes–Here, patients will begin looking at their world of addiction. Counselors and loved ones will ask them to consider the people, places and things in their lives that were affected while they were using. After identifying these things, the patient will begin working on tools to help him or her avoid these negative influences.

Addiction Treatment at Beaches Recovery

Our addiction treatment center stands as one of the premier centers in Florida. Our menu of treatment options includes detox at our Tides Edge detox facility, custom treatment modalities, and aftercare programs. We treat patients of all ages with a focus on younger adults. From our 90-bed residential treatment facility, we offer the following programs:

When patients leave our rehab, we ask them to participate in aftercare programs like post-treatment group session, sober living, and 12-Step meetings.

Addiction is a tough nut to crack. The road to recovery is long and requires a lot of hard work from the patient. The chance to live a normal life makes it worth the effort. If you need special treatment programs like behavioral family therapy, you need Beaches Recovery. You can reach us at our Jacksonville, Florida facility by dialing 866.605.0532. It’s vital for you to know you can beat your addiction. Better yet, you don’t have to do it alone.