You can talk to our team about a loved one’s drinking or drug use before they have agreed to treatment. Family therapy for addiction at Renewed Life Center works with that person and the people closest to them. We are a residential treatment centre in Lakeside, Cape Town: your loved one stays with us for the programme, and the family takes part alongside it.
Life at home slips into survival mode: control, conflict, silence, rescuing, exhaustion. Family work is about seeing what keeps the problem going, setting boundaries you can hold and deciding on the next step, whether your loved one is ready for help or still denies there is a problem.
What is family therapy for addiction?
Family therapy for addiction brings together the person who drinks or uses drugs and their partner, parents, children or other close people. Together, you look at what keeps the problem going at home. Addiction changes everyone’s role in a household. One person covers for missed days at work, another checks bank statements and counts bottles, and the children learn to read the mood before they say anything. The work helps each of them step out of those roles, so that home stops running from one crisis to the next.
Family therapy can help you:
- Talk about drinking or drug use without every conversation becoming a fight.
- Find a different way to respond to checking, covering and conflict.
- Set boundaries you can keep.
- Work towards rebuilding trust.
“Family” means whoever your loved one lives with or leans on: a partner or spouse, parents, grown children, brothers and sisters, close friends.
Who family therapy and support is for
It can help if:
- Someone in your family drinks or uses drugs, or has returned to using.
- Promises have not held and trust is strained.
- You are worried about hidden spending or unexplained absences.
- You need help deciding how to raise the subject of treatment.
- Children at home need more calm and predictability.
If you are not yet sure whether a partner’s drinking has become a problem, our guide to a partner who drinks every night goes through the signs.
What if your loved one refuses help?
You can speak to us before they agree. Tell us what is happening at home, what you have tried and what makes the next conversation difficult. We can explain the treatment we offer and discuss a possible first step, such as a call together.
Choose a calm moment when the person is sober and speak about what you have noticed, rather than trying to settle everything during an argument. Our guide on how to talk to a loved one about rehab has practical wording.
If work is one of their concerns, clients keep their phone and laptop; how much remote work fits around treatment is agreed with their counsellor.
Tell us what is happening at home
When safety comes first
Family therapy is not right for every home. Joint sessions are not safe where someone is being hurt or threatened. If that is happening in your home, your safety comes first: contact the police or local emergency services right away. Later, when you write to us about treatment, tell us about it, so family sessions are planned with it in mind.
If your loved one drinks every day or takes benzodiazepines, sleeping tablets, codeine or other opioids, mandrax or GHB, they should not stop suddenly on their own, even when the family is pushing hard for it. Tell us what they take and how much, and we talk through with you how they can get to treatment safely. Our medical team decides after the assessment whether a medical detox is needed.
How the family takes part during treatment
The first thing families ask us is how their loved one is doing. At Renewed Life Center you hear it from one person, your loved one’s counsellor, with the client’s consent, and the family stays part of the work while your loved one is with us.
Our aim is a family life that no longer revolves around the drinking or using: calmer evenings, easier conversations with the children, and trust that comes back slowly as promises start to hold.
Angelica Nel, our Lead Counsellor, heads the counselling team. Nikki Edwards, our Programme Director and Clinical Manager, runs the programme and has 11 years in recovery herself.
What happens when you write to us
When you write, you get a reply the same day, usually from John Roberts, our Senior Recovery Specialist and Operations Manager, who has 39 years in recovery himself. The first conversation takes 20 to 40 minutes by WhatsApp, video or phone. It is free and confidential, and it does not commit you or your loved one to anything.
You come away knowing what treatment with us would involve for your loved one, how the family would take part and what it would cost; the fee follows in writing the same day. If your loved one agrees to come, admission can be immediate and typically happens within three days of first contact.
Start with a free conversation
Questions families ask
Do I need my loved one’s agreement before I write to you?
No. You can write to us on your own, before they have agreed to come, and the first conversation is confidential. Describing what you see at home is enough to start.
Can we take part if we live abroad?
Yes. The weekly family group and family therapy sessions both work by video, so relatives in the UK, Europe or the US take part from home. We also take evening calls from the UK.
Can children visit?
Yes. Children can visit from the first week.
Are there support groups for families?
Yes. The family support group runs by video every week while your loved one is with us, and relatives can also have sessions of their own with us.
Is family therapy part of the programme fee?
Yes, family therapy sessions with your loved one are part of the programme. The fee depends on the programme and how long the stay is; we give it on the first call and send it in writing the same day.