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about COAF > our programs > changing our view |
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CHANGING OUR VIEW
Since 1997, the Children of Alcoholics Foundation has been a national affiliate of Phoenix House. COAF’s mission has evolved over the years to focus on strengthening both individual family members and entire family systems where parental substance abuse is an issue. While an affiliate, COAF’s mission has largely been applied to program interventions external to Phoenix House.
More recently, there has been a growing awareness that Phoenix House’s attention to and involvement of family might be strengthened, and that an increased focus on family might in fact lead to improved engagement and retention of clients in the treatment process. Family includes not only the children of our clients, but also the adult kith and kin who comprise the client’s family system. These adults, in particular, are driving forces in the ultimate long-term success of our clients in terms of support and abstinence.
We know that family bonds in most cases supercede the connections made during treatment, and when clients leave Phoenix House (or any other treatment program), they generally return to their families.
While formal statistics are not available, focus group research and individual interviews have pointed to the fact that many clients leave Phoenix House because of family pressures - not being able to see their children frequently enough, concern about the quality of caretaking during their absence, pressure from caretakers to resume the parenting role. In recent years, Phoenix House has taken part in an effort to improve the cross-system relationships between treatment and child welfare. However, this effort does not extend to families that are not involved in the formal child welfare system.
As an affiliate, the Children of Alcoholics Foundation has been asked by Phoenix House to undertake an assessment of the various ways family is involved throughout the treatment process, and to develop a protocol to increase this partnership. To accomplish this process, COAF would:
Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the different ways family are involved in Phoenix House’s more than 90 programs
Work with a select group of clinicians from throughout Phoenix House to explore the different ways that families might be involved throughout the treatment and aftercare processes
Develop a protocol for family involvement that can be put in place throughout the organization
Slowly introduce the protocol, providing training and technical assistance to ensure that Phoenix House’s workforce is capable, knowledgeable, ready, and interested to adopt these strategies
Test out the protocol, with a particular view towards engagement and retention, and return to treatment post-relapse.
For more information, contact:
Naomi Weinstein
646-505-2061