The Role of Family Programs in The

Healing Place Model

Dennis Parnell, MSW, LCSW, LCAS

Some Early History Lessons

THP Model was originally designed to serve homeless men on the street, who for the most part were estranged from family ties.

With the start-up of the Louisville Women’s Program in 1995, attention to family matters began to come more into focus.

Initial efforts concentrated on the immediate family issues…mothers with children.

Later efforts included fathers rights/ issues as well.

Our Ongoing Experiences in Raleigh We discovered there were two recurring

situations for addicted mothers with children. Fairly early on in the planning process we

decided not to allow children to live in the facility.

We opted for advocacy over a longer period of time than the conventional length of the program.

We favor an in-house weekend visitation policy. This allows women to “practice” their skills in

being an effective parent.

Children’s Overnight

Visitation Room

Bright Spaces

Further Discoveries Along the Path We began to hear “tall tales” from

families in regards to the information they were receiving from clients.

We began to realize that clients were sometimes staying at The Healing Place, but living at home.

We witnessed a number of daring hostage rescue operations conducted by “Family Seal Team Six” under the cover of darkness.

The Case for Seeking Education & Support for The

Entire Family Everyone in the family is affected by

addiction Denial runs in families Shame, Guilt, Blaming, Anger, Fear and

Confusion are the Hallmarks of Addiction and Alcoholism

Education and continuing support provide the road to recovery

Families get well together!

Family Orientation to THP

The obvious need to educate families about the recovery process first lead to the creation of our “Frequently Asked Questions” about THP Program.

The next apparent steps were to create a full family program consisting of three major parts.

Orientation Education Support

Family Education Sessions

Q and A Addiction is a Brain

Disease Shame and Guilt Family Role Play Take your life back-

Finding your power Al-Anon

Father Martin Relapse Video

Alumni Panel Father Martin Family

Video Father Martin 12 Step

Video (Steps 1 – 5) Bill & Lois Film Clips

followed by Discussion “It’s not my Problem”

Bradshaw Video

Next Steps for Families

The vision is to establish a “Family Resource Center” in Raleigh.

It will serve as a first stop shop for families in the community seeking help for themselves and loved ones.

Plans include a video and literature library, meeting space for Al Anon and more appropriate meeting space for the family program to take place.