Course Offered for Family Members Affected by Another’s Substance Abuse Disorder/Addiction
LOCK HAVEN – Stacey Karchner, a Family Recovery Life Coach through the BALM (Be A Loving Mirror) Family Recovery Program will be teaching a free course for family members in the Williamsport/ Lock Haven area affected by another’s Substance Use Disorder/Addiction. The course can be taken from home online through Zoom platform and is funded by West Branch Drug and Alcohol. BALM evolved around the fact that those with Substance Use Disorder are human beings and deserving of love just as any other person is. At the core of BALM is loving kindness. Being the loved one’s chief supporter rather than the obstacle, just as a family would with any other disease the loved one had. As a family member it’s important to be a model of recovery and to regain peace and calm, believe that the loved one can get well, and learn only to contribute to recovery.
The family role is crucial and can often turn the tide. Research shows when the family gets well the loved one has a much better chance at getting and staying well. The brains of those with SUD/addiction are hijacked by a drug (believing it is needed to survive) and in turn the families brains are hijacked and addicted to the loved one, obsessed with trying to control or fix, obsessed with the outcome. The family needs just as much if not more recovery than the loved one.
Because of the profound effect the BALM had on Stacey’s journey, she took intense training to become a BALM Family Recovery Life Coach and help other families get to the BALM sooner than she got to it. The course Stacey will be teaching is a component of the BALM program consisting of 12 lessons. Lessons include topics such as The Crucial Role the Family Plays, Leverage and how to use it, Stages of Change, Motivational Interviewing, Enabling vs. Helping, Responding and not Reacting, Letting Go without Giving Up or Giving In, You Can Be Your Loved One’s Best Chance at Recovery, Self- Care, Mindfulness practices, How to Set Boundaries and Stick To Them, Getting Support, Exploring Relationships with Spirituality, Yourself and Others , Brief Interventions and more. Ms Karchner has been a Family Recovery Life coach for three years and has been teaching the course for three years in multiple counties with success and states that through the course she sees family members find a new perspective and learn new ways of being, acting and speaking without anger and judgment; becoming that chief supporter rather than the obstacle.
The course will be held every Thursday evening online from 5:30-8 p.m. once a week for seven weeks. Enrollment is free and the course will begin May 7,2020. For every single person that abuses drugs 4-10 others can be impacted. There is hope. As long as there is life there is hope!
To find out more information or enroll please call Stacey Karchner at 814-360-7590 or email her at skarchner9@gmail.com
