CENTER CITY, Minn. (Sept. 18, 2020) – With addiction and mental health needs growing amid the pandemic and social strife nationwide, the nonprofit Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation has launched a Spanish-language version of its educational and support program for families—accessible everywhere at no cost right in the home.
The new one-day Spanish Family Program will ensure Spanish-speaking families have access to tools that have helped thousands of families on their journey to recovery. It is open to all; participants do not need to have a family member in treatment.
With language and culture inextricably intertwined, the program will be similar to the English version with modifications in language and in content: such as omitting what can be construed as culturally offensive language, and implementing a heavier emphasis on addiction as a disease.
"Addiction is something that isn't really talked about in our culture," said Cynthia Galaviz-Olivas, PsyD, bilingual co-lead of the new program and also supervisor of the Children's Program at the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, Calif. "To give them the language they need, to really open up the door to communication—even if their loved one doesn't yet recognize they have a problem—is crucial."
Delivered as part of Hazelden Betty Ford's RecoveryGo® behavioral health service, the virtual program is based on the nonprofit addiction treatment leader's world-class on-site family program and recognizes that when one family member has a substance use disorder, everyone is affected. Creating a sense of community within the family program so that participants can trust the process and those involved, will be key.
"We hope to include a lot of interaction and discussion," said Galaviz-Olivas, who added she sometimes recounts her own family's story with addiction to help build that important sense of trust. "It's about encouraging them to find their voice and share with one another, and to let them know that we're all in this together."
"We created our English-language virtual Family Program because we wanted to be able to reach more parents, spouses, siblings and other loved ones who are caught up in the complicated pain and confusion that addiction so often brings to families, and we made it free so we could cultivate a sense of healing and hope for everyone, regardless of socio-economic status," added John Driscoll, Hazelden Betty Ford's senior vice president of recovery services. "By expanding the program more inclusively to those who speak Spanish, we will reach even more people affected by addiction across the nation."
Anyone interested in participating in the virtual family program can register at hazeldenbettyford.org/familia.