Recovery is a profound process of change when substance use is involved, transforming the substance into something other than the driving element of the family. This transformation brings hope and optimism for a better future. (Reiter, 2019).  Regardless of the recovery path, there is significant reorganization within the family, which alters family rules and processes and increases engagement, honesty, and openness within the system  (Reiter, 2019).  Family recovery through the developmental model is identified through four stages: drinking, transition, early recovery, and ongoing recovery (Brown & Lewis, 2002).  These stages are generalizable from the individual level to the family.  

The National Center for Health Statistics (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2023), with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (National Vital Statistics System, 2023), gathers information regarding deaths commonly associated with fatal drug overdoses.

Family Play Genograms: Objectives, rationale for use, instructions, issues, advantages, & contraindications.

Adolescents with disruptive behavior, typically identified as challenging to treat, juvenile delinquents, at-risk, violent, or offending youth (Alexander et al., 2013) Adolescents with disruptive behavior, often labeled as challenging to treat, can find relief through Functional Family Therapy (FFT), an evidence-based treatment (EBT) that has shown significant effectiveness. (Alexander & Parsons, 1973; Robbins et al., 2016).  It is common for these youth to be diagnosed with disruptive behavior disorders or substance abuse disorders and could be engaged with the juvenile justice system.  Often, they present with emotional disturbances, problematic behaviors, and distorted methods of thinking that do not affect only their family but the community also. 

The number of mental health visits by children and adolescents to office-based physicians in the United States between 1995-1998 and 2007-2010 virtually doubled (Olfson et al., 2015).  Mental health impairment denotes the intensity at which psychiatric symptoms hinder one’s ability to perform various significant activities of daily living (Rapee et al., 2012).  The federal government necessitates that a mental disorder must result “in a functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits the child’s role or functioning in family, school, or community activities to satisfy requirements for the determination of mental health disability and of the need for special education placement, requires” (Leone, 1993, p. 29423).