Answers to Questions for Families and Loved Ones
For families faced with a loved one with a substance use or gambling disorder, hope can feel completely out of reach. But hope is real, and help is ready at New Hope Integrated Behavioral Health Care (New Hope), a place where thousands of men, women and adolescents have found the science to restore and the caring to renew. Medical, psychiatric, psychological and counseling expertise are drawn together to provide the personalized care called for to begin an individual journey in recovery.
Families Deserve Care Too
New Hope understands the difficulty families and significant others have in dealing with a substance abuser. For those of you who would like to improve your relationship with a substance user and to encourage your loved one or friend to reduce or end his/her substance use, we have a program.
What Will Your Loved One Be Doing?
In our Intensive residential programs patients experience a full day of therapy, education and fellowship that typically starts at 7:00 a.m. and ends at 9:30 p.m. The day may include combinations of: morning meditation, mealtimes and fellowship, treatment unit meetings and duties as assigned, educational lectures and lecture processing groups, and recreational activities. Personally targeted group therapy sessions may include: gender specific, motivational enhancement, leisure skills, survivors of abuse, anger and stress management, targeted mental health, grief, cognitive therapy, substance use or compulsive behavior history, relapse prevention, twelve step facilitation, relaxation, exercise and self care, and meditation. Individual appointments are scheduled as called for with a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, or other professional from the multidisciplinary team and time is given for wellness activities and reflection to include time to complete reading and treatment assignments.
The Science to Restore
Treatment at New Hope is tailored to ensure the most effective evidence based practices are applied with the caring that comes from working 
collaboratively with patients and their families and loved ones. Family history, substance(s) used, gambling, gender, physical and mental health, and other variables are all considered in guiding the identification of the therapies and approaches that best fit a patient’s unique history, life context and understandings. It is this personalized matching of patients with the services that will meet their needs that serves as the basis for a successful early and continued recovery. If withdrawal management is called for your loved one will be assigned to our medical unit where a variety of medications can be made available to reduce withdrawal symptoms and physical discomfort. Onsite physicians and 24-hour nursing are on hand to monitor stability and counseling is completed to guide patients to the next stages of recovery.
The Caring to Renew
Be assured that your loved one will be well cared for at New Hope by a multidisciplinary team of professionals. The team members regularly monitor progress within their specialties to ensure that the right care is provided at the right time and that the therapies being applied are getting the results expected. The treatment structure is designed to identify or predict unfavorable outcomes or events before they happen so that treatment plans can be adjusted to meet the real time needs of a patient. For example, co-occurring mental health problems are common to those with addictions and compulsions and where called for, mental health counseling and psychological or psychiatric care is incorporated into treatment plans.
Dedicated to Success in Recovery
At New Hope we take extreme care to insure that all of a patient’s treatment needs are met with the clear understanding that leaving something out increases the risk for relapse. We use specialized valid and reliable electronically administered instruments to identify the problems that need to be addressed and the severity of those problems. This is so we can collaborate with patients in the development of accurate and meaningful treatment plans and care that can be regularly monitored to insure that we are getting the desired results. In order to effectively implement plans internally we employ a multidisciplinary team of professionals that includes:
- Licensed and Certified Addiction Counselors
- Specialty Compulsive Gambling Counselors
- Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Licensed Clinical Social Workers and Professional Counselors
- Physicians, Physician Assistants and Nurses
- Dieticians
- Treatment Associate 12-Step facilitators, and
- Financial Counselors to work with you and your insurance to complete financial arrangements
Continuing Care and Support
Research has demonstrated that substance use and gambling disorders tend to be chronic and much like diabetes and other chronic health problems ongoing recovery requires regular attention and periodic supportive care. That’s the reason your loved one will leave a primary treatment experience with a comprehensive and actionable continuing care plan that you may be asked to contribute to. This plan will account for the status of all of the problems identified and addressed in treatment and what is required for follow-up care. Plans will also include targeted relapse prevention strategies addressing known risks that were identified in treatment. Our objective is to work with you and your loved one to prepare the discharge environment so that it is biased to toward recovery and so that you both have the tools necessary to successfully begin building life in recovery.
Working with You
As part of the admission process and in the course of your loved one’s care, you may be asked to share information with New Hope’s treatment team that can contribute to more meaningful treatment planning and effective implementation strategies. You may also be asked to participate in educational sessions and individual and conjoint sessions toward helping to clearly define the role that you can play in supporting your loved one’s recovery. This is with your loved one’s permission however, as there are federal and state regulations that determine what and how much information can be shared and with whom. At times after the completion of a phase of treatment and with your loved one’s permission, we will be reaching out to them and to you to assess how continuing care plans are working and to assist with any adjustments that may be necessary.
You Deserve Care Too
The family members and loved ones of those with substance use, gambling and co-occurring mental health disorders often experience significant turmoil of their own. This is why substance use disorders are commonly referred to as a “family disease.” We are often contacted by families in distress and at a loss of what to do and make counseling available to help. This counseling is targeted at supporting improvements in the loved one’s behaviors and ultimately at getting them into treatment.
The experience of loneliness, guilt, resentment, stress, sleep deprivation, and other physical and mental health problems are also not uncommon with those involved with a substance or gambling disordered loved one. As this is the case, it’s important that effort be put into identifying what you need for yourself. This may include giving up feelings of personal responsibility for your loved one’s actions and reengaging in a social life that may have deteriorated. We provide education sessions and materials and seek to provide personal counseling for you as part of your loved one’s care. We can also make alternative counseling arrangements available if your loved one declines your involvement in their care.
Lastly, you may benefit from reaching out to the several, volunteer self-help programs dedicated to helping the families and loved ones of those suffering with substance use or gambling disorders. These include:
- Alanon/Alateen www.al-anon.alateen.org
- Naranon www.nar-anon.org
- Gamanom www.gam-anon.org
- Families Anonymous www.familiesanonymous.org
- National Alliance on Mental illness www.nami.org
Please feel free to reach out to your loved one’s primary counselor whenever you have a question and thank you for the confidence you’ve placed in us.
Tony Comerford, Ph.D.
President & CEO,