Enhancing Family Protective Factors in Residential Treatment for Substance Use Disorders.

Substance abuse treatment programs typically focus on reducing attitudes and actions that lead to continued substance dependence and do not always maximize opportunities to strengthen the protective factors that can promote sustained recovery. This article describes a co-occurring disorders residential treatment program for women and their children that enhanced its trauma-informed treatment model by adding supportive treatment components that emphasized protective knowledge and skills and helped build support systems. These protective factors included: (1) concrete support in time of need; (2) knowledge of parenting and child development; (3) social and emotional competence of children; (4) parental resilience; and, (5) social connections. The enhancement included implementing Celebrating Families! (CF!) and an improved integrated case management system that were well received by staff and clients. Evaluation data confirmed that those who took part in these interventions showed significant improvements in recovery, including reduced mental health symptoms, reduction in risk behaviors, and longer program retention. Enhancing Family Protective Factors in Residential Treatment for Substance Use Disorders