Multiple Family Group Therapy at

the McLeod Addictive Disease Center

1996 By Jean Wade

    Each family group in itself is unique and continues to be full of surprises and amazing results.  Sometimes, as therapists, we get accustomed to these wondrous happenings.  Being asked to write a brief for the newsletter caused me to reflect and remind myself how special the family groups are.  Our adult family is a conglomerate of Satellite Jail, Federal, Outpatient, Residential and Drug Court clients and their families.  They come from all walks of life - some similarities in social-economic backgrounds but generally stark differences.

    You know family groups are working when you hear young well-to-do female client say to a satellite jail client, "We have a lot in common," "my husband had been in treatment three times and it didn't make a difference until we started coming to family," "The program is vital - it helps you focus on self and thus helped my son," "There are no barriers to coming," "Something I thought so personal is universal," "I know I am not alone in this," "and I always feel better when I talked."

    It's good to remind ourselves!

Jean Wade, is employed at the McLeod Addictive Disease Center in Charlotte, N.C.  This appeared in the Summer 1996 N.C. Multiple Family Group Therapy Networking Newsletter, Volume 2, Number 1, Natalie Boorman, Editor.