Family Participation

At BrightQuest, we strongly believe that family members play a critical and central role in supporting their loved one with creating a life of health, stability, and success. Numerous studies and over three decades of our own clinical experience point directly to a significant increase in the recovery and sustained health of clients whose families remained involved in and supportive of the treatment process.

We rely on a number of therapeutic strategies designed to help families become more successful in navigating life with a loved one experiencing mental illness.

We believe that family involvement and participation is essential, therefore we want to make sure that anyone seeking treatment for their loved one is very clear about what is involved in playing an active and central role in their loved one’s life treatment.

At BrightQuest, Families are Involved in:

• Weekly family therapy sessions
• Biweekly multi-family educational groups
• Bimonthly family weekends and multi-family support groups
• Learning effective, healthy and supportive communication skills
• The empowerment and support of their loved one’s independence
• Developing boundaries to promote the health of the entire family system

We strongly believe that family members play a critical and central role in the process of supporting individuals with a mental illness with learning how to create a life of health, stability, and success. Sadly, we have repeatedly heard family members complain that they have not been included in previous treatment and often have felt “out of the loop” or unimportant in the process. Our approach is the opposite. You are vital to the treatment process and we believe your loved one’s chance to heal and learn how to live a more stable and successful life depends on your involvement.

Some of the primary therapeutic strategies our program utilizes requiring significant involvement and commitment from a client’s family include:

• Initial “No Contact” Period. Provides clients and families a readjustment period at the beginning of the treatment process.
• Hospitalizations. In the event that a client’s behavior poses a danger to themselves or to others, or when a significant medication change is warranted, hospitalization may be necessary.
• Family Therapy. Provides a venue for families to heal themselves. Also teaches skills for decreasing the emotional burden that exists when a loved one suffers from a mental illness and supports the process of re-establishing healthy bonds among various family members in both the immediate and extended family.
• Bimonthly Family Support Group (FSG) and Biweekly Family Video Conference Psycho-Education Group. Provides a supportive environment for families to connect, interact with, and learn from other families in a way that promotes understanding and healing.
• Support. Recommended sources of family support to pursue and participate in may include:
  • Al-Anon
  • Personal Therapy
  • Boot Camp Family Programs
• Handling Complaints. If your loved one attempts to solicit your support in leaving treatment, this initiates a pivotal time in your loved one’s recovery. When the “going gets tough” is when your loved one really needs your full support to stay and work it through. The best response, and what your loved one needs you to say is, “take this to your therapist to discuss the matter.”
• Housing and Potential Safety Interventions. It is critical to the healing and recovery of BrightQuest’s clients to have a safe, clean, and harmonious space in which to live. Therefore, we have clear rules and guidelines for behavioral conduct and participation in the housing program that all residents are required to follow. Please review the “Housing Rules and Guidelines” document that all clients review and sign before being admitted to our housing program.
• Talking to Your Loved One About Finances. Unless a client is personally paying for treatment, it is generally unhelpful to have the client involved in the details of the financial commitment that the family is making for treatment. Sometimes knowledge of the financial details can hinder treatment as clients may experience guilt or feel compelled to “fake it” through treatment in order to give the impression that treatment is not needed.

Every other month, we host a Multi-Family Support Group for the families of clients either in a BrightQuest program or awaiting admission.

The primary purpose of this group is to provide a supportive environment in which to connect, interact with, and learn from other family members in a way that promotes understanding and healing. Research consistently shows that social support is a significant factor in determining which families’ loved ones succeed in treatment. By putting family members in contact with one another, this group provides a unique opportunity for education, guidance, and assistance with how to develop healthy ways of coping with a family member who is ill, how to best support your loved one’s recovery, and how to take care of yourself throughout the process.

BrightQuest’s Multi-Family Support Group also serves to reinforce concepts and strategies addressed in family therapy as well as the contributions of outside support services such as Al-Anon or NAMI. In this way, the group functions as an ongoing repository of experience, ideas, and support, shared between people who have faced or are dealing with similar challenges and triumphs in their loved one’s journey toward mental health and independence. Participation in this important part of your loved one’s therapy is a vital component to optimizing the impact of the treatment plan.

For the upcoming Multi-Family Support Group Date, please visit the Family Support Group page.