Caring for a family member with serious mental illness can be draining and consuming. Often, in the search for answers, solutions, and care, the well being of other family members becomes inadvertently secondary. However, the impact of attention focused on a sibling, the strain on parents, and even the impact of family dynamics on the patient all play a role in the loved one’s mental health and treatment.
Unless these issues are addressed, there is the danger the patient will return to a home environment that may trigger harmful habits, behaviors, and/or addictions. Pasadena Villa advocates and requires individual family therapy. Many of our patients’ families are far away, so family therapy often occurs by phone. At the appropriate point of recovery, long family weekends off-site provide the time needed for more intensive family work.
Through therapy, families begin to come to terms with and accept that their loved one has a mental illness. It is important for all involved to place shame, anger and guilt on the proverbial table and create a new dynamic. During this process, parents learn to manage their expectations and lower them to a realistic level without giving up hope for a good life for their child. Clients face the reality of the impact of their illness on family members and begin to raise their expectations of themselves. The goal is to bring families to a middle ground between expectations and denial and find a place to create healthier, happier relationships that support and nurture those involved and benefit the patient’s long term success.
Pasadena Villa’s Smoky Mountain Lodge is an adult intensive psychiatric residential treatment center for clients with serious mental illnesses. We also provide other individualized therapy programs, step-down residential programs, and less intensive mental health services, such as Community Residential Homes, Supportive Housing, Day Treatment Programs and Life Skills training. Pasadena Villa’s Outpatient Center in Raleigh, North Carolina offers partial hospitalization (PHP) and an intensive outpatient program (PHP). If you or someone you know may need mental health services, please complete our contact form or call us at 407-215-2519 for more information.
