Future Project
Family Program Weekend Workshop
The Situation
It is estimated that over 400 million people globally suffer from some form of drug or alcohol use disorder. In addition, it is believed that over 1 billion people suffer from some form of mental health disorder. For mental health disorders, this represents one in every seven individuals including teenagers. Over 4 million people die a year from alcohol, drug, and mental health related causes.
The Problem
Substance use and mental health disorders are family diseases, yet the treatment primarily focuses on the identified “patient.” Families almost always become dysfunctional in managing these disorders within the family system. It affects family communication, boundaries, roles and overall emotional well being. Key symptoms within the family include, but are not limited to, enabling, codependence, denial, avoidance, manipulation, becoming “The Hero” or “Scapegoat,” parentification, emotional suppression and the passing down of intergenerational trauma.
Desired Solution
Successful outcomes in the treatment of substance use and mental health disorders requires a shift in conventional thinking around how to treat these disorders. It is a family disease, and the entire family must be treated - not just the patient. Successfully treating the family will lead to fewer treatment episodes, more successful outcomes and fewer deaths. The desired solution is to create the industry's most innovative family program workshop in the country.
Workshop Discovery
The discovery process for creating the workshop will consist of a three-day stakeholder retreat of treatment center CEOs at an upscale resort centrally located in the middle of the United States. The three days will combine brainstorming sessions with fun and networking. Next steps include:
- Develop an Advisory Board of CEOs from 5 to 10 prominent nationwide “private pay” drug, alcohol and mental health programs across the United States. Targeted treatment centers include Momentum Recovery, Balance House, Cirque Lodge, The Guest House, and Driftwood Recovery.
- Prior to the weekend, interview select CEOs to get an understanding of how similar “in-house” family programs currently being done to see how we can improve upon them, and make them more successful.
- Plan, brand, invite and fly CEOs in for the Stakeholder retreat.
- Budget = $25,000
Exercises for the Stakeholder Event
- Open the morning with a 12-step recovery meeting as many of the leaders of these organization are in recovery themselves. This helps to establish a safe, vulnerable environment for the activities ahead and an opportunity to get to know each other at a deeper level.
- Introduce a set of “pop-up rules” that creates group safety and confidentiality along with open, honest and fresh thinking around family programming.
- Set the stage for this weekend with 9 whys on why this work is so important.
- Set the stage for the weekend with a Purpose-to-Practice liberating structure exercise to map out the 5 overarching elements of designing the workshop for families. Define the Purpose, Principles, Participants, Structure and Practices that will create the throughline of the family workshop framework. Riffs: a) Discuss what these thought leaders feel the marketplace would pay for a weekend family program; b) Discuss timing on when families should attend the workshop; c) Determine geographic locations ideal for to hold the workshops.
- Throughout the weekend, 1-2-4-All the perfect weekend retreat agenda, the key needs of each treatment center to help support their programs from and education and clinical standpoint, and identify the common pitfalls that family members do that impede the effectiveness of a treatment episode.
- Fun extracurricular activities to include: Pasta-making class, golf, ATV off-roading, skeet shooting or fly fishing.
Deliverables
- Leave the Stakeholder weekend with the ideal agenda and framework to launch, productize, and monetize the industry’s leading weekend family program workshop.
- Identify the revenue opportunity, messaging, key costs, needs and ideal geographic locations to launch the workshop.
- Create a group of like-minded Stakeholders that will continue to learn and use each other in their profession, as well as continue to advise the family program as it takes shape and matures.
- Inspire the Stakeholders to promote the family program nationally when speaking to others in the industry, and refer to it at the appropriate time with their own treatment centers. The family program will serve a dual benefit of helping families understand treatment, making their job easier and patients stay longer which will lead to better outcomes.
- Create a path to fewer treatment episodes and better outcomes for those suffering from alcohol, drug and mental health disorders by treating the family as a whole rather than just the identified patient.
Competencies
IAF Checklist
A, B, C, D, E, F
Bonus Blessing
Create an abbreviated video version of the weekend workshop that can be given for free to low income Medicaid drug, alcohol and mental health facilities nationwide.
