Family support group is offered for family members to get help because the famil y suffers too.

Alcoholism is a family disease. Just as the alcoholic needs a sup port group, so does the family. In family support group, family members learn th ey are not alone. They learn about "tough love" about tough boundaries which wil l not allow the alcoholic to keep a haven at home for drinking. They learn about making a contract, rather than listening to the alcoholic's promises not to dri nk again. They learn how to say "no" when the alcoholic asks to use the car, to borrow money, to bring home unknown friends, to return home after another binge. Family support group members learn how to support recovery rather than drinking. They reward progress in recovery rather than "promises" to do better outside a recovery program. They learn to "play the tape again" about the alcoholic's hist ory and to finally change it. Family support group members learn that they can finally sleep again, that a rec overy solution is a safe solution, that on the worst days the alcoholic is bette r off in recovery than anywhere else. Family support group also provides fellows hip and a place to make new friends. Family members may feel isolated, alone, an d guilty about the plight of the alcoholic. They learn instead that there is a r eprieve, one day at a time, from the disease, and that the alcoholic has a solut ion. Family members also learn they cannot keep the alcoholic sober, that a program o f recovery is essential. Sometimes the alcoholic has been in other programs, but one more opportunity may be all they need to succeed. Programs such as Yellowst one are often the "last house on the block" for alcoholics and addicts who have tried other programs. Family members suffer too. Often they have been victimized by the disease to the extent that their homes have suffered, their jobs, their relationships. Part of the relief for the family member is to believe that there is a solution, that t heir refusal to tolerate alcohol and drugs is a major part of the solution, and that supporting recovery is much more important than supporting the alcoholic or addict. They also learn that the cost is too high to continue to support the al coholic at home. The problem is not just the financial losses as a result of alc oholic behavior, including money, cars or even places to live, the problem is th at the chaos continues until finally there is nothing left to lose. Recovery programs solve those problems by providing safe and sober places to liv e. Programs such as Yellowstone provide very low cost residential programs at a fraction of the cost the family has already paid and may never have to pay again . Most families can't afford to continue losing money and prize possessions as a result of alcoholism. They need to progress in their family's recovery from dam age caused by alcoholics and addicts who are untreated. Everyone needs a support group. The family support group provides new sober relationships to families wh o have only known chaos and frustration since the onset of alcoholism in their f amily. Families also need objective insights into their problems. For too long they hav e been left to their own analysis, which usually includes "what did I do wrong". Now they learn that alcoholism is a major disease in the country and that famil ies are too often targets for the alcoholic because of their sense of failure. T hey need to learn new facts, for example, that families influence their children only 25% of the time. Families do have a responsibility to demonstrate a high standard of behavior, sh owing that they know how to "do the right thing", and that tolerating alcohol, d rugs and diseased behavior is completely unacceptable. When their family members do get sober, they begin to value these standards in a recovery program; they r

e-learn the values of honesty, open mindedness and willingness. They become grat eful to parents and family who finally stopped accepting their destructive behav ior. They become grateful for the time to learn about recovery in a safe and sob er environment, where other alcoholics have succeeded and want to help them. Rec overing alcoholics become their mentors, their teachers, and they need each othe r to stay on the path together recovery. Families learn the value of investing in recovery instead of perpetuating the di sease. When a family member is diagnosed with cancer, no effort is spared to get them to a hospital and experts to help them with a seemingly hopeless disease. When a family member becomes an alcoholic, this too is a seemingly hopeless dise ase that is most often terminal, without treatment. The family can and should fo cus on the solution: recovery. Experts in recovery are to be found in the recove ry field. At Yellowstone all the staff are recovering alcoholics, some with 10, 11, and even 23 years sober. All but one of the staff is also graduates from the Yellowstone program. Some of the families bring alcoholics who only drink alcohol, but increasingly t he problem is more likely to be drugs and alcohol. Prescription drugs are now so dangerous that more people died in 2009 from an alcohol and prescription drug c ombination than Heroin. Driving under the influence also has become so lethal, t hat many television shows, including 60 Minutes, are interviewing states where d rivers under the influence are receiving penalties up to 20 years in prison. Cou rts in California are now levying charges such as "attempted murder" or "murder" if someone dies. The cost for families of legal fees alone is now astronomical, but it has no end, unless the alcoholic goes to prison, dies, or gets sober. Finally, family support group members discover experience, strength and hope in their discussions and connections with other families who have overcome their gu ilt, remorse and shame. They have replaced their pain with knowledge of the dise ase and their conviction to make a difference for their family through Recovery. When the family decides to change, the alcoholic may be forced to change. Witho ut recovery from drugs and alcoholic the family cannot recovery. When the alcoho lic benefits, the entire family benefits