Support for Families Affected by Addiction
When someone you love is using drugs or alcohol, it changes everything. Your sleep, your mood, your relationships, your sense of who you are. You deserve support too — not just as someone connected to an addict, but as a person in your own right.
You are not alone in this
Families affected by addiction often feel invisible. Services focus on the person using, and the people around them — the ones holding everything together, lying awake at night, managing the chaos — are expected to just cope.
But you can't pour from an empty cup. And the truth is, when a family member is using, the whole family system is under strain. Everyone adapts — sometimes in ways that help, sometimes in ways that accidentally keep things stuck.
Systemic family therapy helps you understand these patterns. It looks at how your family has organised itself around the substance use, and how you might reorganise in ways that support everyone — including yourself.
What we might work on together
- Understanding your own responses — and recognising when helping becomes enabling
- Setting boundaries that protect your wellbeing without cutting off connection
- Managing the emotional rollercoaster — anger, guilt, grief, hope, exhaustion
- Rebuilding trust and communication within the family
- Supporting children who are affected by a parent's or sibling's substance use
- Finding your own life again, separate from the addiction
- Using CRAFT principles to positively influence change without confrontation
My experience with affected families
I've spent over fifteen years working alongside families affected by substance use — at Change Grow Live, The Forward Trust, Turning Point, and Cranstoun. I've co-created and delivered family programmes including M-PACT, Relationships Matter, and Recovering Families. My research explores how hope is experienced and sustained by families in exactly this situation.
I know what it's like to sit with families in the middle of it — the fear, the exhaustion, the love that doesn't go away even when you wish it would. I bring that experience into every session.
Common questions
What is an 'affected other'?
An 'affected other' is anyone whose life is impacted by someone else's substance use — a partner, parent, child, sibling, or close friend. The term recognises that addiction affects the whole family, not just the person using.
Do I need the person using to come to therapy?
No. I often work with family members without the person using being present. Your experience and wellbeing matter independently. Change in one part of a family system creates change throughout.
Is it normal to feel angry, guilty, and exhausted?
Completely. Living with someone else's addiction creates an enormous emotional toll. Anger, guilt, shame, exhaustion, and grief are all normal responses to an abnormal situation. Therapy offers a space to process these feelings without judgement.
How is family therapy different from Al-Anon or family support groups?
Support groups like Al-Anon offer peer connection and shared experience, which is valuable. Family therapy is a more structured, professionally facilitated process that works with your specific family dynamics, patterns, and relationships. Many people benefit from both.
Your experience matters
You don't have to wait until things get worse. A conversation is a good place to start.
Book a Free Consultation