Our biweekly family groups provide our clients’ loved ones with opportunities to grow, develop new skills, and connect with each other by sharing both their strengths and vulnerabilities.
At NuView Treatment Center, we understand that addiction and mental health struggles rarely occur in a vacuum. It is important to understand the context. In most cases, this means working with family members. When family members put in the time and effort to get support, this not only helps their addicted loved ones, but also makes life more fulfilling for themselves.
About Our Bi-Weekly Family Group Meetings
Our bi-weekly family groups are led by Linda Whiteside. Linda is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor who has been providing mental health services for over 10 years. With a specialty in therapeutic and psycho-educational groups, Linda is committed to helping families of those struggling with addiction and mental health disorders develop stronger coping skills and understand themselves – as well as their struggling loved ones.
Linda has experience working in a wide variety of therapeutic modalities. During her employment at a maximum-security prison for men in Southern Illinois, she developed and facilitated “Houses of Healing.” Motivated by her own experience of loss, she also became a Certified Grief Specialist. At the present time, she primarily works with special populations, providing both individual and group therapy to individuals struggling with substance abuse and other mental health disorders.
Linda is committed to the idea that our greatest resource in life is forgiveness. With that in mind, she works with family members to help them make the choice to forgive themselves. Linda provides caring, compassionate and supportive assistance helping people get from where they are to where they want to be.
Come Out For Our Feb 19th, 2022 Event
On February 19, Linda Whiteside will be conducting our family group alongside Mike Loverde, an addiction expert in his own right. Mike, the founder of Family First Intervention, has extensive experience working with the entire family as a cohesive system.
Our family groups are designed to help family members learn new ways of supporting their loved ones. One crucial distinction that we stress at NuView is the difference between supportive behaviors and enabling behaviors. It takes a great deal of strength to support without enabling. Having a strong family support group can make all the difference.
Family groups also allow family members to become better informed about the nature of substance use disorders and mental health disorders. They have the opportunity to learn what these conditions are from a clinical perspective. At the same time, family members benefit considerably from sharing their own subjective experiences with each other. By connecting with others who have shared experiences, they develop more emotional resilience and can learn new ways of coping.
Perhaps most importantly, family members have an opportunity to connect and support one another through their own inevitable emotional challenges.
Join Us at NuView’s Family Groups
Our biweekly family group meetings vary in topic every week. We also often have guests and experts who share their clinical experiences and expertise. Topics we cover include:
- The way substance use disorders impact the family
- The disease of addiction
- Healthy communication and boundaries
- Recovery management for families
- The difference between unhealthy helping and detaching with love
- Enabling vs Supporting
