Family Support

Providence has a robust and deeply integrated family program that plays an essential role in the recovery experience. Each week, Stephanie or one of the PF therapists host a virtual parent process group, always well attended by both currently enrolled PF families and alumni families who wish to remain connected to the community.

Alongside the process group, parents meet with a PF clinician each week for family therapy.

Each quarter, more than 100 members of the PF community come together for our beloved Multifamily Group sessions. During these gatherings, residents share their experiences and insights from their personal recovery journeys and share what has challenged their personal family relationships. These sessions offer parents a deeper understanding of what their sons are experiencing, and our residents the opportunity to understand the experience of their parents. These conversations provide families with meaningful perspective, connection, and support throughout the recovery process.

Providence also hosts an annual Mom’s Retreat weekend, an event that has become so popular for the support, friendship, and sense of community it provides that a second retreat weekend has been requested to accommodate more families in the coming year. Retreat attendees share a beautiful home in Palm Desert, family style meals prepared by a professional chef, yoga, breathwork, sunshine, hiking, and, most importantly, group sessions which enable us to relax into our shared parenting experiences.

PF is lucky to have several volunteer family liaisons who provide support, comfort, and guidance to new families, helping them feel welcomed and connected throughout their PF experience and recovery journey.

PF celebrates one year anniversaries together as a community. Residents, alumni, staff and families gather to mark a year of recovery out loud, in front of the people who watched it happen.

A letter from our Director to every family beginning this journey with us.

Every aspect of Providence’s program structure has been developed by exploring vast long-term recovery research, collaborating with dozens of treatment program professionals, and, most importantly, through our first-hand clinical experience with countless recovering young people. With this in mind, we’d like to share some thoughts to help you better understand and navigate your son’s time at Providence. We hope that you will grow to have great trust in our professional staff, and faith in the program. This “faith in the process” will have great impact on your family’s recovery.

While we have structure, rules and programming, we do not wish to fill your son’s entire day with Providence-related activities. Our intention is to support your sons as they learn to do everything sober, including go to work, class, to dinner with friends, sporting events, watch Netflix in bed, and go to the grocery store. We want to show residents the freedom inherent in living a vibrant life in recovery.

Then, as residents grow stronger, they are supported in our expectation that they attend school, work, internships, community service, or whatever step they wish to take in moving forward with their life, while maintaining recovery as their first priority. We respect our residents’ goals, and will celebrate and support the uniqueness of their paths.

Watching your loved one transition to independence and increased freedom is also a transition for their families, but it is an imperative aspect of the recovery process. We will show our residents that their life in recovery will be more attractive and compelling than the using lifestyle it replaces. At times, your son may feel held back by the “rules” of the recovery community, and may push for more independence. Providence staff will work with residents as individuals, to determine the level of structure and programming that is right for them.

Providence staff are with our residents every day. You will receive a scheduled phone call from our clinical or case management staff weekly, and are encouraged to contact us with questions as they arise. We are committed to being honest and direct in our communications, and we invite the same from you.

Your son will have access to spending money, at an amount agreed upon between program staff and families at intake. This money is intended for food, entertainment and other miscellaneous items. Having money will help residents negotiate immediate decisions, and allow them to enjoy sober activities and build connections with their peers. Should your son begin working, the amount provided by families for spending money will be appropriately revisited. Providence programming includes significant education and discussion about budgeting, financial independence, responsibility with other people’s money, meal planning and grocery shopping, and understanding “needs versus wants.”

We encourage you to take advantage of all the family support opportunities Providence and our amazing support community have to offer.