Caron Foundation Awards Recovery Education Program
By Annie Turner
Pennsylvania Recovery Organization – Achieving Community Together (PRO-ACT) received the Award for Educational Excellence in an Institution at the Caron Foundation Annual Philadelphia Community Service Awards on June 17 for its successful Family Education Program.
PRO-ACT, a five-county Southeast Pennsylvania recovery support services and advocacy group, provides a range of services to those in treatment or recovery and their families, including hosting sober events, volunteer appreciation events, annual recovery walks, mentoring programs, regional leadership trainings on such topics as “Know Your Rights,” and other peer to peer recovery support services.
Since it originated in Bucks County in 2001, the Family Education Program has helped over 400 families cope with a loved one's substance abuse problem, according to Babette Benham, PRO-ACT's client advocate and a member of the Southeast Pennsylvania Demand Treatment! Leadership Team. Last year, the program expanded to Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties, and efforts are underway to bring the program to Philadelphia County as well.
The program consists of three sessions taught by two trained volunteer facilitators in a hospital-based classroom setting, each session focused on a different aspect of the recovery process.
During the first session, the facilitators — all of whom are from families in recovery — explain the disease model of alcoholism and drug addiction and the effects addiction has on the brain. Participants also receive a homework assignment: to attend any open self-help group meeting, such as Alcoholics Anonymous.
In addition, each participant receives a thick packet containing information about addiction and recovery, PRO-ACT activities, and other local resources, including crisis hotlines and homeless shelters. The packet also contains information on Pennsylvania's Act 106, a law that requires insurance companies to pay for prescribed addiction treatment, for which PRO-ACT conducts an assertive enforcement campaign.
The second session, titled “Understanding the Impact on the Family,” focuses on codependency and enabling. Facilitators discuss what behaviors can enable harmful behavior, such as calling a family member in sick from school or work, as well as the stages of grief and denial that may result from a family member's substance abuse or dependence.
Participants explore how their loved one's addiction has affected them, answering a group questionnaire with such questions as, “How often do you lose sleep because of your spouse's drinking?” This session is particularly helpful, says Benham, because of the interaction it fosters within each family. Participants are told that this week, their homework is to do something good for themselves.
During the last session, families learn about developing a support network, both for themselves and for the family member struggling with substance abuse. Facilitators discuss available community resources, such as self-help groups, and the families discuss the meetings they attended for their first homework assignment. Participants also learn about the continuum of care in drug treatment, and what a typical day in a rehab program may be like.
Community support for PRO-ACT activities extends beyond the volunteers who facilitate the education sessions. Steen Advertising donated over $20,000 worth of billboard space to the organization for an advertisement for the Family Education Program on Interstate Highway 95. Additionally, Student Assistance Professionals who aid school personnel in Bucks County strongly encourage families to attend the education program, “so they can develop some insight into addiction and their own behavior,” said Benham. “There's a whole lot of respect [for PRO-ACT]. They wouldn't be referring people if it wasn't a good program.”
“Our whole goal was to be able to decrease stigma and discrimination,” Benham said. “It's taken some time, but people are finally getting to know who we are.”
“We provide living role models,” Benham added. “And people need that.”
For more information on PRO-ACT or the Family Education Program, contact Babette Benham at 215-345-6644, or visit www.proact.org.
