• Anger Management / Assertion Training
• Domestic Violence Education
• Domestic Violence Process
• Issues of Abuse
• Teen Children of Alcoholics & Dysfunctional Families (ACA)
• Teens, Families & Drugs
• Multi-Family Support
• Parenting Program
• S.T.A.R. Program
• Art Therapy
• Respect & Responsibility
Programs and Services
Group Services - Teens, Families & Drugs
Recipient of Service:
This group is directed to residents of the shelter and is a required activity of residency.
Schedule:
This group is held weekly at Casa Youth Shelter on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to l0 a.m.
Provider:
This group is facilitated by a paid staff of Casa Youth Shelter.
Provider Qualifications:
BA Sociology. Two years of graduate theological study. Clinical Pastoral Education Internship certificate. Four years of teaching religion and ethics, and nineteen years of group work with high risk children at Casa.
Description of Service:
Group members have family histories of substance abuse. They share what they think constitutes a "healthy environment for a childhood," then compare that ideal with their reality of having grown up with substance abusers or dry drunks. The memories of emotions and reactions in early life are compared to those of present teen years. The advantages and disadvantages of the various defense mechanisms children use in alcoholic families are explored and explained. The negative drives and their consequences are stressed to understand the connection between these drives and the use of drugs to cope. Strategies are developed for channeling the alcoholic family roles into positive actions.
Goals of Service:
For group members to become aware of the link between their troubling behaviors, the toll of toxic shame caused by chemical abuse, and the effect on the family tree. In the group discussion they become aware that they are not odd, and that what they do is appropriate for children living in an addictive family. The covert and overt behaviors which may have brought them to Casa are in fact the scripts to roles they played to survive their childhood. Group members learn that these roles have become part of their identity. By identifying and developing their own new scripts, they can make the roles into tools for success. Responsibility is placed on them to break the family cycle.
