+ Family Recovery in a Box? - BALM

The BALM Blog

See all posts

Family Recovery in a Box?

BALM | April 3, 2017

Easy is the word these days – easy to cook, easy to clean, easy to exercise, easy to find…If it is easy, quick and easy, then it must be good.

But when a loved one is caught up in drug or alcohol use, life is anything but easy and the work needed to help them feels slower than molasses and completely mysterious.

One person says, “put them in this treatment center”.

Another says, “treatment doesn’t work”.

So, how can a family member figure out what will help, what will work when it comes to helping a loved one find their way to recovery from the risky lifestyle they have become mired in?

There are certain evidence based practices known to help those struggling with substances make the decision to get help and others that help them continue on the path. Things like

  • mindfulness (BALM Step One: Be the Peace You Wish to See in the World)
  • motivational interviewing (BALM Principle Two: Change Happens in Stages)
  • brief interventions (The BALM Conversation: Be A Loving Mirror)

Knowing what to say, how to say it, who to ask for help, how to set a boundary, lovingly and solidly without backing down, these are all things that BALM family members learn to do and that BALM Coaches become expert in helping families achieve.

Yet still, there is no guarantee that the loved one will get well and this way can still be long and challenging.

The difference is, that when family members engage in a program like the BALM, they often find two things happening right away: a newfound sense of calm and a newfound sense of purpose. Knowing which behaviors have the best chance of contributing to recovery and practicing shifting to those behaviors and thought patterns provides a path toward sanity, often missing in the family members’ lives prior to finding the BALM.

You could call it Family Recovery in a Box:

  • 12 Principles
  • 7 Steps
  • Ideas designed to take the difficult out of ‘simple, not easy’ and replace ‘not easy’ with “clear”.

As family members grow in clarity of how to help themselves and potentially their loved ones out of the confusion that active use brings, they soon find themselves growing in peace as well and a sense of certainty begins to emerge. Not so much certainty that this will cure their loved one, but rather, the clarity that the  family has a way to stop being part of the problem and now has a way to become part of their own and their loved one’s solution.

The BALM Comprehensive, four courses online or on your phone one to two times per week, over 150 recorded interviews, classes and group sessions, almost 400 handouts to clarify what you are learning even further. Two workbooks for participants to help families navigate the stormy waters of life with a person in the grips of substance use disorder…

The growth not only calms the waters in the home, but also has the chance to provide a powerful positive influence on the struggling loved ones in the home.

Family Recovery in a Box?

Maybe not literally. But the tools our coaches and teachers impart are easily available to families round the clock. The BALM Comprehensive is there for everyone of us who chooses to be our loved one’s best chance at recovery – and our own!

Enjoy the week and Be A Loving Mirror!

Best,

 

Bev