Family Issues: Rescuing vs Non-enabling

Many families have already worked on recovery issues prior to treatment and are already well on the way to their own recoveries. However, even with that in mind, most families tend to be in one of two mind-sets: first, those who have been drawn into the web of addictive thinking to the point where they blame themselves almost entirely, and second, those who have all but "disowned" the patients and blame the patients almost entirely.

The Caron Renaissance philosophy of "non-enabling" actually works well with BOTH groups, helping the families who have given up find new hope, and helping those who still are trying to find some balance. The non-enabling approach rings true in all forms of health care, even as stated once by a local therapist: "We seldom help people when we do for them what they should be doing for themselves." The entire array of services at Caron Renaissance is orchestrated to place both patients and families in situations where they must learn new and more effective recovery and relational skills. The often well-meaning family member who "rescues" someone just as a breakthrough is about to happen is every bit as destructive as the judgmental family member who refuses to provide encouragement even when real progress is happening. We find that family members are most effective with the patients when they are working the hardest on themselves. Often family members come into treatment narrowly focused on the patient, only to realize that they themselves have been reenacting a multi-generational theme of dysfunction. And here, at Caron Renaissance, that deadly cycle ends as recovery takes on a whole new meaning.