Families CARE: Helping Families Cope and Relate Effectively Facilitator’s Manual

A facilitators’ manual for an 18-module education, support and skills development program that aims to help family members Cope And Relate Effectively with the person who has a substance use problem. The program is designed to support recovery of the person with the substance use program and to enhance the well-being of the family members.

The manual includes templates for participant handouts, pre- and post-program surveys and a participant feedback form.

Contents

Introduction / PDF

• Who will use this manual?

• Why offer programs for family members?

• The Families CARE program

• The development of Families CARE

• How to use the Families CARE manual

• Appendix 1: Pre-treatment survey PDF

• Appendix 2: Sample opening or closing exercises / PDF

• References

Implementing the program / PDF

• The initial interview

• Recommended format for sessions

• Dealing with common difficulties in facilitating groups

Module 1 - Starting out

Module 2 - Understanding substance use problems and their effect on families

Module 3 - Taking care of yourself

Module 4 - Finding support

Module 5 - Managing stress

Module 6 - Using religious and spiritual resources

Module 7 - Staying safe and managing crises

Module 8 - Grieving and coping

Module 9 - Managing emotions

Module 10 - Communicating effectively with a person who has a substance use problem

Module 11 - Problem solving

Module 12 - Setting goals and making change happen

Module 13 - Responding to a person who has a substance use problem

Module 14 - Supporting the recovery of a person with a substance use problem

Module 15 - Setting limits with a person who has a substance use problem

Module 16 - Helping children affected by substance use in the family

Module 17 - Finding hope

Module 18 - Next steps

Acknowledgments

Project team: Sharon Armstrong, Sukhi Bubbra, Andrea Himes, Colleen Kelly, Joanne Shenfeld, Christine Sloss, Linda Tait

Pilot sites and facilitators: Sukhi Bubbra, Andrea Himes, Colleen Kelly, Joanne Shenfeld, Christine Sloss, Linda Tait (CAMH Family Addiction Service); Pam Santon (Addiction Services for York Region)

Feedback and review: Sharon Armstrong, CAMH; Joanna Henderson, CAMH; Baldev Mutta, Punjabi Community Health Centre; Zarsanga Popal, Community Resource Connections of Toronto; Pam Santon, Addiction Services for York Region; Syeda Tahira, Volunteer; Hing Tse, CAMH; Lisa Vettese, CAMH

We also thank the family members who participated in the pilot groups and provided their feedback about the program.

We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Stupp/Cohen Families Foundation and its initiative to create the Randy Stupp Fellowship at CAMH.

A note on language

In many cases, people have substance use and/or mental health problems that have a significant impact on their daily lives, but are not severe enough or do not last long enough to meet the criteria for a diagnosis of any disorder. To reflect the full continuum of harms, in this manual we refer in most contexts to “substance use problems,” “problematic substance use” and “mental health problems,” and reserve the more categorical terms “substance abuse,” “substance dependence” and “mental illness” to describe diagnosable disorders specified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). When we discuss the results of research studies, we use the language used by the authors of the study.

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