Families, addiction and Families, addiction and recoveryrecovery

Louise Martin and Alex Copello

Skills Consortium conference, London, 14th February 2012

Individual vs. social view of addictions

Despite the available evidence and potential gain, shifting the emphasis from individualised treatment approaches to those focused on the substance user’s family and social environment presents a number of significant challenges

(Copello, 2006)

Why work with families?1. ‘Carer burden’ is extremely high and families need support in

their own right

• Costs are financial, social, psychological, physical and relational

• Reciprocity of well-being• Families indirectly influence clients’ using behaviour• We need to consider the whole system of the family, not just

the individual when thinking Recovery.

Why work with families?

2. Improved client treatment outcomes

• Increases client entry into treatment• Improves engagement and retention of client in

treatment• Improves substance use outcomes for clients• Reduces relapse• Families play crucial role in facilitating recovery

How large is the problem?

It is estimated that there are approximately 15 million people with drug use disorders globally and 76 million with alcohol use disorders (Obot, 2005).

A cautious estimate of just one person seriously affected in each case suggests a minimum of 91 million affected family members

Most people would use a greater multiplier and produce a higher figure

What is the extent of the problem?

Drug treatment population

General population

50,373 partners55,012 parents35,208 ‘other’

573,671 partners610,970 parents259,133 ‘other’

Total = 140,593 Total =1,443,774

• Key findings from UK DPC study about adult family members of drug misusers.

• What about alcohol misuse?• Up to 1 million children are

affected by parental drug misuse & up to 3.5 million by parental alcohol misuse (Manning et al., 2009).

• It is estimated that the impact of drug misuse on the family costs the UK £1.8 billion but also brings a resource saving to the NHS of £747 million through the care provided.

THE UNIQUE SET OF STRESSFUL CIRCUMSTANCES FOR FAMILIES COPING WITH ADDICTION

Has the nature of severe stress, threat and abuse Involves multiple sources of threat to self and family, including emotional, social,

financial, health and safety Can have significant impact on children Worry for that family member is a prominent feature There are influences in the form of individual people and societal attitudes that

encourage the troubling behaviour Attempting to cope creates difficult dilemmas, and there is no guidance on the

subject Social support for the family is needed but tends to fail Professionals who might help are often at best badly informed and at worst critical

Symptoms of Ill Health

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Family members; psychiatric out-pts. and

community controlsFamily members

Ray et al (2007)

Compared family members of people with substance misuse problems with family members of similar persons without substance misuse.

Samples:Family members n = 45,677 (male/female – 46/54%)Comparison group n = 141,722 (male/female – 46/54%)

More likely to be diagnosed with medical conditions most commonly depression and other psychological problems

Ray et al (2007) The excess medical cost… Medical Care

Policy

NTA (2008) “Supporting and Involving Carers”

• Involve family in treatment where appropriate• Involve family in service planning• Routinely ask about family• Offer carers assessments• Develop support plan if needed• Help family think about how to cope with

substance use

Drug Strategy 2010

“Evidence shows that treatment is more likely to be effective, and recovery to be sustained, where families, partners and carers are closely involved. We will encourage local areas to promote a whole family approach to the delivery of recovery services and to consider the provision of support services for families and carers in their own right”

NICE (2007) Drug Misuse: Psychosocial Interventions

• Routinely ask about family, and the impact of substance use on family

• Involve families in assessment and treatment plan (with consent of client)

• Offer carers assessment• Provide written information about impact of drug

misuse on families• Offer guided self help where needed• Provide information about support groups• 5 sessions based on Copello’s model• Behavioural Couples Therapy

What happens in practice?

Practice

► Some very good examples of services for family members but provision is patchy

► Implementation of evidence based practice remains low

► Potential to improve availability and response to families

To receive advice and support on their own right

To be supportive of the relative’s treatment and involved if useful

We know that family members have two related needs:

Family Interventions

Family Interventions: Three Broad Categories

• interventions that work with family members to promote the entry and engagement of drug and/or alcohol users into treatment

• the joint involvement of family members and the relatives using drugs and/or alcohol in the treatment of the user

• interventions aimed to respond to the needs of family members affected by drug and alcohol problems in their own right

[Copello, Velleman and Templeton, 2005]

Concurrent group treatment

Al-Anon

Families Anonymous

Supportive stress management counselling

Parent coping skills training

5 - step intervention

Working With FMs to engage relation in treatment

Joint involvement of FMand their relatives in treatment

Responding to Needs of FMin their own rights

Family intervention

Community reinforcement & family training

Unilateral Family therapy

Cooperative counselling

Pressure to change

Conjoint family group therapy

Behavioural couples therapy

Family therapy

Network therapy

Social behaviour & network therapy

M-PACT

TREATMENTS INVOLVING FAMILY MEMBERS (FMs)TREATMENTS INVOLVING FAMILY MEMBERS (FMs)

The stress-strain-coping-support model

Relative’s substance problem

Stress on family member

Family member strain

Social support Ways of coping

5-Step Method

• 1 – Listen, reassure and explore concerns• 2 - Give relevant targeted information (eg

substances, treatment, support)• 3 - Explore coping responses – ‘engaged’,

‘tolerant’, ‘withdrawn’• 4 – Discuss social support – map• 5 – Discuss further support needs

Key message:

A little support can have wide positive consequences

What do you do in your services?

What can you do?• Find out what’s available in your area and decide what you can offer as a service

• Identify families ‘champions’

• Produce an information leaflet for families and carers

• Let administrator/ receptionist know what you offer

• Add a question about family members to your assessment form

• Add ‘family’ to your regular team meeting agendas

• Organise a ‘friends and family day’ at your service

• Organise 5-step training for staff

• Get systems in place for recording contacts, safeguarding issues etc

Potential Obstacles

• Not allocating sufficient resources• Absence of managerial buy-in• Expecting this to be done on top of normal

caseloads• Seeing it as a ‘luxury’ rather than core• Lack of systems for recording work• Responsibility resting with one person