Supporting Your Family Throughout the Healing Process
The healing process at Red Mountain Colorado includes the entire family from the very beginning. Healing the entire family system is a crucial factor in ensuring that the changes your child makes at our program continue after graduation. Because of this, in addition to the family therapy with your child’s therapist, we also provide a weekly parent coaching session with our Director of Family Support & Programming, Matt Hart. Matt is an integral part of the treatment team who will support your child and family during your child’s stay at Red Mountain Colorado.
During parent coaching sessions, we will provide your family with guidance and support throughout the healing journey. These sessions are individualized based on your specific needs. They help to set the foundation for the work your family is doing in family therapy sessions and answer any questions that may come up throughout the week.
Parents learn how to:
- Embrace change and stop being the “fixer” or “rescuer”
- Hold boundaries with their child
- Set realistic goals and expectations for life after treatment
- Empower their child to move forward with trust and confidence
Additionally, parent coaching sessions provide an outlet for parents to recognize and share their emotions while processing the changes they have been making in family therapy sessions. Parents will learn how to communicate with their child, create a new foundation to build off of, and understand their past in order to successfully build their futures. When we understand where each person in the family unit is coming from, we have a better chance of working together.
Uniting Your Family
The ultimate goal of family programming at Red Mountain Colorado is to help families reunite and rebuild their bonds. We understand that each family’s needs are unique and will work with your family to understand your challenges so that you can overcome them. Parents have the support of our team in learning how they can create a better, healthier environment for their child which may include learning how to operate in therapeutic sessions with and without their child, how to stop being the “rescuer,” or how to set and hold boundaries.
In parent coaching sessions, Matt helps families address a variety of topics depending on their interests and needs. Examples of these include:
Transitioning From Wilderness
For families transitioning from a wilderness program to our long term residential program, parent coaching helps support families as they navigate the changes that take place between two different treatment programs and processes. Parent coaching sessions help families embrace the work they did in wilderness therapy while shifting into a long term treatment setting.
Coaching Parents Through Uncertainty
The treatment process may feel like a roller coaster at times. Initially many families head into treatment hoping for a smooth predictable process, but an effective program pushes for self-reflection and growth. This is uncomfortable at times for the child as well as their family. Parents may feel pushback from their child and the genuine feeling to “rescue” their child. Parents are coached on how to navigate the challenges, their ups and downs, and even some unexpected turns that present themselves during treatment and how to support their child through this journey.
Addressing Shame and Guilt
For some families, there is a lot of shame and guilt around the self-judgment that their children are experiencing. In the past, the language that they used to communicate with their child was intended to support their child, but their child may not have received it that way. In parent coaching, we help focus on moving away from those feelings. We also talk with families about how to communicate with their child so they minimize inadvertently reading anything into what parents are saying.
Navigating Communication With Your Son
When some teens are going through the treatment process, they may want to distance themselves from their parents and stop communicating with them altogether. In parent coaching, we help parents embrace that their child is trying to discover who they are. This may mean giving their child the space they need to experience growth while encouraging appropriate communication. When their child is ready to open up communication, we can help support that process so that it can grow and deepen.
Failure vs. Learning Mindset
When young people think of themselves as failures, it pushes them down and makes them feel like they can never break out of old patterns. In parent coaching, we focus on reexamining a child’s past behaviors and reframing the conversation towards learning from past mistakes while moving forward. Parents and teens learn how to launch into the next stage of their lives with confidence.
Control
Underlining much of a student’s work is helping them find a healthy sense of control over their lives. Matt works with parents on how to support their children to develop a sense of control that is healthy and not self-destructive–helping parents take a step back to help put their child in their own driver’s seat. This may include support in language to help redirect their child when they ask or demand for their parents to “fix things” or “rescue” them, essentially relinquishing control rather than self-reflection and developing appropriate self-advocacy skills.
If you’re interested in learning more about parent coaching, please reach out to our admissions team at 1-877-302-5022 or you may book a session with Matt using the link below: