Therapy

If you are considering entering treatment for addiction, you may be wondering what exactly to expect and how our specialised services may help. Our substance misuse practitioners and therapy team are professionals with specialised training and integrated skills that may help in a variety of ways. For example:

1. Addressing the addiction as well as any underlying issues or co-occurring disorders that are impacting on daily life. Our therapists are trained to assist in the identification of any other mental health problems that may be acting as a barrier to recovery.
2. Use a variety of approaches to help us focus on changing our behaviours. It can be overwhelming thinking of how to approach changing an addictive behaviour, the therapy team can help support your steps to recovery in a caring and understanding way.
3. Help us address problems that have arisen as a result of substance misuse, assisting to restore broken relationships and help to address issues around trust that may have fractured friends and family, as well as breaking free from old relationships that do not serve us positively moving forward.

Why Therapy?

Our therapy team use a variety of techniques such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and mindfulness that helps patients to examine patterns of thinking that are unhelpful or even destructive. We provide self-help strategies that may help to identify and recognise clues and warning signs that may trigger a relapse. This allows us to learn healthier coping techniques and recognise thoughts that may trigger cravings and relapse.

At the BONDS Clinic we inspire motivation and provide positive interventions to support navigating our own recovery. Addiction is complex but can be treated. Therapy is an integral part of effective rehabilitation and recovery.

Our highly skilled and empathic practitioners will help us gain control of emotions, change behaviours and actions that can result in a happier, healthier life.

It is never too late to begin the journey to recovery.

Therapy Option 1 – Solution-focused therapy
Also known as brief therapy – is an approach to psychotherapy based on solution-building rather than problem-solving. Although it acknowledges present problems and past causes, it predominantly explores an individual’s current resources and future hopes.

Therapy Option 2 – Logotherapy
Is a school of psychology and a philosophy based on the idea that we are strongly motivated to live purposefully and meaningfully, and that we find meaning in life as a result of responding authentically and humanely (i.e. meaningfully) to life’s challenges.

Therapy Option 3 – Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)
Is a psycho-social intervention that aims to improve mental health. CBT focuses on challenging and changing unhelpful cognitive distortions and behaviours, improving emotional regulation, and the development of personal coping strategies that target solving current problems.

Therapy Option 4 – Humanistic therapy
Is a mental health approach that emphasizes the importance of being your true self in order to lead the most fulfilling life. It’s based on the principle that everyone has their own unique way of looking at the world. This view can impact your choices and actions.

Therapy Option 5 – Group therapy
Is a form of psychotherapy that involves one or more therapists working with several people at the same time.

Therapy Option 6 – One-to-one therapy
Takes place on an individual basis, between yourself and the most appropriate specialist for your unique mental health requirements, and is designed to provide you with a safe, supportive space in which to explore personal issues and connect with the feelings that are associated with these issues. Most of the therapy at The BONDS clinic in one-to-one therapy

Supporting loved ones – Family Support Program

We place an important emphasis on helping friends and family to develop an understanding around addiction and dependency. We know it’s difficult to support a loved one through addiction, detox and recovery. As a loved one of a patient, you don’t always have all the tools and knowledge to provide the right support and also to look after yourself throughout. At The BONDS Clinic, we  know it’s important for a patients recovery to have the best possible home environment to return to, we have tailored our therapy to provide you with all the right tools.

We are acutely aware that addiction and the co-occurring disorders extend further than the patient seeking detox and treatment. These issues usually have a significant impact on family members, close friends, work colleagues and others who depend upon the patient. It is important to remember that it is these individuals who usually play an essential supporting role within the recovery.

This is why at The BONDS Clinic we offer a comprehensive Family Support Program which aims to assist immediate family, loved ones or others who have been impacted by a patient’s addiction and  the co-occurring challenges that may arise.

Our Family Support Program has been specifically designed to address individual needs, strengthen relationships and educate family members on how best to support the individual’s continued recovery.

Our goal is to assist promote understanding, set and maintain healthy boundaries and develop more constructive ways of communicating, all within a safe and non-judgemental environment.

The BONDS Clinic Family Support Program can take place:

Before the patient enters detox in order to facilitate in planning and acceptance of the need for treatment

During the patients treatment as to help family to understand the impact the patients addiction may have had on them and how best they can support the patient to get back to life

After inpatient detox treatment has ended and the patient has returned home as a means of relapse prevention and addressing issues that have arisen as a result of the addiction.

Option 1: Family intervention – prior to treatment

Our family support programme is designed to address individual patient needs, to strengthen the family unit, and to educate family members on how best to support their loved one’s ongoing recovery.

It can be difficult to watch someone you love cause harm to themselves, and if you think that you have a family member or a friend who is struggling with an addiction, you may feel anxious, upset and helpless. However, it’s important to recognise that addictions can be treated successfully and it’s possible for your loved one to make a full and lasting recovery.

Before speaking to your family member or loved one about their addiction and encouraging them to get help, it’s important to be aware of/consider the following:

• Know the signs and symptoms of an addiction – recognise changes in behaviour, appearance, loss of interest in activities that they previously enjoyed, secrecy and denial
• Know how to react – family and friends will often feel fearful, hopeless, guilty, isolated and embarrassed
• Know where to turn – you cannot control a loved one’s behaviour nor force them to seek treatment and support
• How to break your loved one’s denial – it is very unusual for a person with an addiction to seek help unless there is no other alternative. Therefore, it can be useful to utilise a crisis, which the loved one may create, as a catalyst
• How to let your loved one know how you feel – show tough love without shouting. Tell them clearly and directly when they are reasonably sober/clean if you are upset, hurt, angry or afraid

Option 2: Structured Family Therapy – during inpatient detox and/or when returning home and in receipt of outpatient care

As part of our Family Support Program, we offer family and friends the opportunity to participate in fortnightly family therapy sessions. Led by our experienced therapy team, family support sessions are excellent opportunities for the patient in treatment and their loved ones to address the ways in which the addiction has impacted on them as individual and also as a wider unit.

Family support also provides a structured and supportive environment in which family members can address the difficulties that they have experienced in a healthy and productive manner.

Family members will also learn how to make lifestyle changes that will empower them to live healthier and more satisfying lives, whilst also providing the most effective support to the individual in treatment during their lifelong recovery journey.

The Benefits of The BONDS Clinic Family support program:

• It allows out therapists to gain input from the family, observe how the family interacts with the patient and each other and learn more about family dynamics.
• It can encourage your loved one to continue with their treatment program knowing the family supports them.
• It offers your family member an opportunity to learn how the entire family has been affected by their addiction.