The most influential people in our lives are our family members. Family serves as a blueprint for our lives. It genuinely shapes who we are. Family is where we learn who we are, what we like and don’t like, how we view ourselves and others, and how to function in relationships. We also get to learn things directly or indirectly like communication, boundaries, values, traditions, and attachment. We are a unit of individuals that make up a bigger unit, and when one person is impacted by something, the whole unit is impacted by it and feels it, either directly or indirectly.
Families all strive for homeostasis, so when something happens (positive or negative), this forces the family to acclimate to the changes that are necessary to maintain balance.
Sometimes the changes we make to help balance the system can be healthy or unhealthy. Keep this in mind as we look at addiction. “Things” happen all the time and we are constantly working to balance the system.
Addiction is something that impacts the entire system, everyone feels the “thing” that is happening to them. Because of this, the whole system will try to figure out what to do and will typically adapt their behaviors, roles, rules, etc. to find balance within the system. This cycle happens over and over again. This repetitive cycle changes the entire family system. This is the same principle for recovery. Recovery is a positive “thing” that happens to families, and in the early stages of something new, the whole family will again have to acclimate by changing rules, roles, and behaviors to find balance within the system which is unavoidable. With this in mind, we believe that families can find healthy solutions to rebalance the system by getting better together.