If you’ve been involved in the Spectrum Health Systems or New England Recovery Center communities for any amount of time, you’ve seen or heard us stress the importance of involving family and loved ones in the recovery process. For many years, we’ve offered the Family Education Forum at each of our outpatient centers across Massachusetts.
This program invites the people closest to our clients, the ones struggling with addiction and working hard to maintain their sobriety, into the center for a first-hand look at their loved one’s treatment and an educational session with a member of the clinical staff.
The program answers some of the most common questions posed to our clients receiving medication-assisted treatment, like:
- Why do you have to go every day?
- How long will you have to do this?
- Are you just substituting one harmful substance for another?
- Why can’t you just stop?
We discuss the disease of addiction, and make sure attendees understand very clearly what it is and what it does to the brain and body. This background instills more compassion and understanding, and helps people grasp why people with substance use disorders can’t simply “stop.”
We explain the science and methodology behind Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) – the prescription of methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone.
Attendees leave with new knowledge and understanding, as well as take-home documents outlining how best to support their loved one in their recovery.
Here is a list of Family Education Forums at our outpatient centers through the spring of 2018. If you have any specific questions, please contact your local facility.
If you or a loved one needs help, call us today at (800) 464-9555 for outpatient services or (800) 366-7732 for inpatient treatment.
