Unlocking the family secrets: Working with Family Alcohol or Drug Problems

Families affected by alcohol and drug use often minimise or avoid talking to their children about what has happened. This can leave children feeling to blame, isolated and anxious.

On this day course we look at how we can help families to unlock the transformative power of their own story, to help parents re-estblish relationships based on honesty and trust.

Facilitated by a Senior Arts Psychotherapist, a Specialist Substance Misuse Social Worker and an artists with lived experience we will look at key areas around talking to parents, grandparents, children and teenagers in order to find ways to unlock transformation.

Working with families affected by drug and alcohol misuse can be challenging. Parents deny or minimise the impact, or become overwhelmed with guilt and shame. We will identify the barriers that prevent parents speaking to their children about their drug and alcohol use, and look at common scenarios and how we may deal with them.

Young children can be left with traumatic experiences frequently blame themselves. We will look at resources that help start discussion and provide support.

Teenagers are often highly distrustful of professionals and have no trust that anything can change for the better, so we’ll look at challenges when working with teenagers, how it feels from their perspective and how to talk to them.

We know that within each family is the potential for a different story, a transformative story based on honesty, mutual understanding and courage. When families are willing, professionals can help them to overcome the many obstacles to this transformative process, hidden in the shadows of shame.

On the course we support participants to:

• Understand the importance of children having their own narrative around their experience

• Gain confidence in talking to parents about how they can talk to their children about their or their partner's substance misuse

• Understand the barriers to talking openly to parents and young people

• Learn approaches to talking to younger children about parental alcohol or drug problems with or without parents

• Consider the experiences of teenage children and young adults and ways of engaging them in constructive dialogue

• Hear from a person with lived experience of what it was like growing up with parental alcohol problems

• Take part in skills practise to work through issues you may come across as professionals

• Find out more about support and resources available

Also check out other Workshops in Brighton and Hove, Arts events in Brighton and Hove.