The Family Education Program

Be a Loving Mirror (BALM) is a family recovery curriculum designed by Beverly Buncher. This curriculum encompasses interactive coaching and education to help families find a way to live in peace with the recovering addict after treatment. By erasing judgments and regaining inner calm, family members can provide support to the one in recovery, while holding that person accountable for their own actions. Living with an addict is one of the most difficult challenges in life. The experience often leaves family members reeling with anger, frustration, resentment and lack of trust. When the recovering addict leaves treatment and returns home, it can be difficult to know how to deal with all those emotions churning inside and welcome that person back to familiar surroundings. BALM gives family members the tools they need to manage this transition and even become the positive support the recovering addict needs to avoid relapse.

Components of BALM

The BALM curriculum teaches a number of crucial principles families need as they deal with the addiction and recovery of their loved one:

• Become advocates for sobriety within the home
• Identify triggers that could lead the one in recovery to relapse
• Set and stick to boundaries
• Erase judgments that create barriers between the recovering addict and family members
• Restore the inner peace and calm that seemed to have been lost forever
• Achieve peace and harmony within the home
• Talk calmly to the recovering addict with greater potential to be heard

The goal of the curriculum is to become a loving mirror so the addict can see the harm he is doing to himself and those around him. The reflection is offered in a calm, objective way, without judgment, allowing the addict to process the information. The loving mirror also sets boundaries that let the addict know what the mirror can and cannot live with. At West Coast Recovery Centers, we believe the family is an integral part of the recovery process. We provide family counseling, as well as the family education program, to help family members become positive influences in a successful recovery effort. We utilize the BALM curriculum because it complements the intentions of our personalized treatment programs, which include healthy communication, relational boundaries, mindfulness, acceptance and autonomy. To learn more about our family programs, contact West Coast Recovery Centers at 442-333-6199.