Betty Ford Substance Abuse

Children coming from these families where parents abuse substances and are a high risk and need effective interventions to not follow the same path as their parents. It is very difficult to provide services specifically designed for children because they require a very unique style of intervention to help heal and recover from the affects their parents had caused for them (Lewis, Holmes, Watkins, & Mathers 2015). The programs that have been designed from children normally revolve around coping skills, interpersonal relationships, developing positive identity and self-esteem, and are normally done in a group setting to help strengthen relationships with peers and build a support system for like individuals. One program that has been found to improve social skills for girls and reduce feelings of social isolation in boys is the Betty Ford Children’s Program. Another influential program was the Stress Management and Alcohol Awareness Program, which focused on self-esteem and coping strategies that use a psycho-educational approach to address this substance abuse. This program increased children’s use of positive coping strategies, their classroom and overall behavior, and had a positive effect in decreasing depressive …show more content…
However, this program was built to try to bridge these services to try to better the situation for the children, which is the most important aspect of this type of situation. Often times we are so focused on fixing the parents or the abusers that we fail to look at who is most affected, the children. I feel very strongly that more needs to be done to protect children from exposure to substance abuse and to help correct the damage done if they are