Family Psychoeducation

At Paracelsus Recovery, our treatment programmes include joint family psychoeducation sessions when desired or applicable. The aim of family psychoeducation is to provide family members with the resources and information they need to understand their loved one’s mental health condition or addiction so they can support them in their recovery.

Family values are important to us as a family-owned business. We comprehend the complexities of family systems and how they influence and are influenced by the suffering of a loved one. For example, when someone is going through mental health or addiction issues, it can have an impact on everyone around them. Sadness, anger, guilt or fear can make it difficult for family and friends to understand how to respond appropriately to their partner’s, spouse’s, child’s or sibling’s illness. A lack of knowledge about mental health or addiction can exacerbate stress, resulting in arguments, a breakdown in communication and each member of the group feeling unsure of what to do.

Psychoeducation has been shown in studies to help prevent relapse, reduce self-stigma, improve relationships, increase self-esteem, and provide a variety of other benefits. For example, studies have consistently found that family psychoeducational interventions have a positive impact on families and reduce rates of relapse in individuals with psychotic disorders. It has also been shown to improve outcomes for people with schizophrenia.

Both psychoeducation and family psychoeducation are integral to our treatment programmes. Psychoeducation focuses on equipping the individual client with knowledge and tools to better navigate their mental health condition and ensure long-term recovery. In this way, the therapeutic intervention involves only the client themselves. However, of course, this has an impact on family members because it enables a client to educate their personal support network about their mental health condition. So while they can pass on knowledge to those around them, they are the only ones who are actually participating in the psychoeducation sessions.