Family Therapy for Addiction & Recovery

Family therapy helps families heal together when addiction affects one or more members. Addiction doesn’t just hurt the person using drugs or alcohol—it impacts everyone in the home. Family therapy focuses on rebuilding trust, improving communication, and creating a healthy environment that supports recovery.

At Emory Recovery Center, we use evidence-based family therapy methods to help families understand addiction as a disease, not a failure. This helps remove blame and makes recovery a shared effort.

How Family Therapy Helps in Recovery

Family therapy does more than talk about problems. It helps family members learn how to:

Support recovery without enabling use
Set healthy boundaries
Manage stress and conflict
Rebuild broken relationships

Therapists guide families through structured conversations and skill-building exercises. Over time, families learn how to respond in ways that help recovery instead of accidentally making it harder.

Who Should Join Family Therapy

Anyone who plays a major role in the person’s life can join—parents, partners, siblings, or even close friends. The goal is not to assign blame, but to understand how everyone can help.

Some sessions include everyone together. Others may include smaller groups or one-on-one meetings to handle sensitive issues.

What to Expect in a Session

Family therapy sessions are usually one hour long. During sessions, the therapist may:

Help the family talk through recent challenges
Teach communication and coping skills
Discuss how addiction affects each person
Create a plan for supporting recovery at home

These sessions can happen in person or online through secure telehealth platforms, depending on your comfort and location.

Proven Family Therapy Models

At Emory Recovery Center, our clinicians use proven methods like:

CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training): Teaches families how to encourage treatment and recovery without using pressure or confrontation.
Behavioral Couples Therapy (BCT): Helps couples rebuild trust and improve relationship satisfaction while supporting sobriety.
MDFT (Multidimensional Family Therapy): Used with teens, it involves parents, schools, and communities to guide recovery and improve behavior.
BSFT (Brief Strategic Family Therapy): Focuses on changing negative family interactions that may lead to or support substance use.

These models are supported by research from organizations like the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the (SAMHSA).

When Family Therapy Helps Most

Family therapy can start at different points:

During active addiction – when families need guidance and stability.
In early recovery – to support new routines and prevent relapse.
Long-term recovery – to maintain healthy family dynamics and communication.

Even if the person with addiction isn’t ready for treatment, family therapy can still help others learn how to cope and prepare for when they are.

Cost and Insurance

Most insurance plans cover family therapy when it’s part of a treatment program. At Emory Recovery Center, our admissions team verifies coverage before therapy begins. For those paying out-of-pocket, we offer flexible payment options.

If you’d like to confirm coverage, visit our insurance verification page or call our admissions team for a confidential assessment.

Getting Started

Starting family therapy can feel intimidating, but it’s one of the most powerful steps toward healing. You don’t need to have all the answers—just a willingness to begin.

At Emory Recovery Center, our licensed family therapists help you rebuild trust, restore communication, and strengthen the foundation for lasting recovery.