The effect on family members of Veterans and First Responders (VFRs) who are suffering from substance use or mental health disorders can be severe.
Military households face the anxiety and strain of having loved ones deployed or assigned. When the individual returns, additional stress within the family can occur as a result of trauma generated by that individual’s service, which may have led to unhealthy habits and disorders. The family dynamic changes and conflict can occur.
Similarly, First Responders face tremendous amounts of stress due to their professional responsibilities. This can make it difficult to balance work experiences with everyday life and negatively impact relationships with their family, partners, and friends.
Further, these family members and concerned loved ones themselves may also be suffering from acute or post-traumatic stress disorder and social/emotional detachment issues. Unhealthy coping behaviors and a lack of healthy support can set off a downward spiral for all involved.
As a result of all this, the SMART Veterans and First Responder Community wants to provide direct help to families and concerned loved ones. We are offering a chance for their voices to be heard, so that the process of learning to manage their own self-care and develop new ways to effectively interact with their loved one can begin.
On Saturday November 19th, from 4:00 – 6:00 pm ET, we will be holding a special SMART Family & Friends of Veterans & First Responders support group meeting. Registration for this meeting will be free and open to family members and concerned loved ones of those within the VFR Community who are suffering with substance use or mental health disorders.
Please join us to begin the process of support, understanding and cooperative change!
Registration is open until November 17th at 11:59 p.m. ET
PLEASE NOTE BEFORE YOU COMMENT:
SMART Recovery welcomes comments on our blog posts—we enjoy hearing from you! In the interest of maintaining a respectful and safe community atmosphere, we ask that you adhere to the following guidelines when making or responding to others’ comments, regardless of your point of view. Thank you.
- Be kind in tone and intent.
- Be respectful in how you respond to opinions that are different than your own.
- Be brief and limit your comment to a maximum of 500 words.
- Be careful not to mention specific drug names.
- Be succinct in your descriptions, graphic details are not necessary.
- Be focused on the content of the blog post itself.
If you are interested in addiction recovery support, we encourage you to visit the SMART Recovery website.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
If you or someone you love is in great distress and considering self-harm, please call 911 for immediate help, or reach out to 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline @ 988, https://988lifeline.org/
We look forward to you joining the conversation!
*SMART Recovery reserves the right to not publish comments we consider outside our guidelines.*