Family Resources

We’re Grateful You’re Here

Choosing treatment is such a brave step to take for a family, so take a moment to honor yourself and the other family members supporting this difficult process.

Whether the needs of your loved one involve treatment for addiction, mental health concerns, or co-occurring disorders, the overwhelming breadth of research shows that family involvement, education, and support are crucial to their prospects for long-term success in recovery.

In addition to offering virtual support and educational programming for families, as well as client-centered family therapy sessions, below we have provided additional resources, and encourage you to utilize this tool to expand your knowledge base of addiction and/or mental health disorders. We hope to continuously add to it as newer, evidence-based, and forward-thinking resources become available.

Films & Series about Addiction

Pleasure Unwoven

In the addiction world, renowned physician Dr. Kevin McCauley explains in an entertaining and very informative manner how addiction affects the brain. This program is filmed in the outback of Utah. The film uses Utah’s amazing terrain in parallel with the brain’s landscapes to help the viewer better understand the challenges the brain faces in regard to substance addiction. Rent or Buy Here.

Memo to Self (Sequel to Pleasure Unwoven)

In this film, Dr. Kevin McCauley re-lives his own precarious early sobriety – negotiating hazards such as hostile prosecutors, treatment
programs with divided loyalties, and his own craving brain. Following the advice of the Addiction Medicine experts who helped him,
he replicates the sobriety habits and success of recovering pilots and health care professionals. By framing addiction not as a
problem of moral choice but as a safety/risk management challenge, Dr. McCauley explains how recovery is neither rare nor
random – with the right kind of support, it can even be expected. Rent or Buy Here.

The Neuroscience of Addiction

Dr. Kevin McCauley presents his keynote address entitled “The Neuroscience of Addiction” at From Research to Rehab: A Town Hall Meeting on Substance Use and Young People. Watch Here.

HBO’s Addiction Series

Assembled by some of the nation’s top documentary filmmakers, this centerpiece film in HBO’s ‘Addiction’ campaign features insights from experts on trends and treatments in the ongoing battle against drug and alcohol abuse. Rent or Buy Here.

PBS NOVA Episode on Addiction

Hear firsthand from individuals struggling with addiction and follow the cutting-edge work of doctors and scientists as they investigate why addiction is not a moral failing, but a chronic, treatable medical condition. Easy access to drugs like heroin, fentanyl, and even prescription medications like OxyContin has fueled an epidemic of addiction—the deadliest in U.S. history. Watch Here.

Films & Series about Mental Health Disorders

Of Two Minds – a documentary about Bipolar Disorder

Of Two Minds is an award-winning feature documentary that explores the extraordinary lives, struggles, and successes of a few of the over five million Americans living with bipolar disorder. It puts a human face on the topic, providing an intimate, sometimes painful, sometimes painfully funny, look at those who live in its shadows: our parents and children, our friends and lovers…and ourselves. Rent or Buy Here.

Light in the Darkness – Living Well After Trauma

A helpful and hopeful documentary about the tens of millions of Americans searching for hope and relief from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Watch Here.

The Truth About Depression – BBC Documentary

Stephen Nolan lifts the curtain on the stigma surrounding depression and gains a better understanding of this illness. He meets people whose life is a constant battle against it and examines the science behind this potentially life-threatening condition. Watch Here.

Uncertainty: Why We’re So Anxious About Anxiety

This documentary explores anxiety disorders, a common mental health concern. Watch Here.

Angst: Raising Awareness About Anxiety

This IndieFlix documentary is designed to raise awareness around anxiety. In this video, local mental health and substance abuse prevention experts offer a panel discussion and Q&A to reduce the stigma around mental health. Watch Here.

Healing Voices

“Healing Voices” is an award-winning documentary that explores the experiences commonly labeled as ‘psychosis’ in western culture, and offers a critical look at America’s mental health care system. The movie premiered in over 130 cities in eight countries via a grassroots release and has made a measurable social impact in communities around the world. Rent or Buy Here.

Podcasts

Addiction Unlimited Podcast

Every Wednesday a new episode drops with coaching strategies and guest interviews giving you a step-by-step action plan on how to live sober and happy. Listen here.

The Addiction Podcast – Point of No Return

This podcast addresses hope and recovery successes for individuals, friends, family, parents, and associates who have been or may be addicted to opioids, heroin, cocaine, prescription drugs, fentanyl, alcohol, etc. Listen here.

The Addicted Mind Podcast

The Addicted Mind Podcast is about understanding addiction from a research and treatment perspective. We will dive into what drives the addictive process, explore the latest research on addiction, and talk about the latest addiction treatment options. We will also explore what recovery from addiction looks like from a variety of different people. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction then The Addicted Mind Podcast can help. Listen here.

Saving You is Killing Me Podcast

Saving You Is Killing Me offers new hope for reclaiming your life. Podcast host Andrea Seydel offers insight and learning opportunities for self-healing, recovery, and resilience that foster an empowering way of life. Listen here.

Mental Illness Happy Hour Podcast

The Mental Illness Happy Hour is a weekly online podcast that interviews comedians, artists, friends, and the occasional doctor. Each episode explores mental illness, trauma, addiction, and negative thinking Listen here.

Invisibilia: The Problem with the Solution – Neuroscience and Mental Illness

Americans LOVE solutions. But are there problems we shouldn’t try to solve? Lulu visits a town in Belgium with a completely different approach to dealing with mental illness. Listen here.

Codependency No More Podcast

In the Codependency No More Podcast, Brian and Jennifer take you along on their journey of codependency recovery. While having conversations with experts, other codependents, and each other, they expose you to experiences and points of view to help you in your own journey of codependency recovery. Listen here.

Literature

The following is a list of Narrative/Memoir-style books on addiction and mental health. These resources offer a first-person perspective on various types of substance use disorders and mental health disorders and may help to shed some light on what your loved one is going through. These are all available in both print and digitally on Amazon.com, audible, B&N, Apple Music, etc.

Memoirs about Alcohol Use Disorder:

Lit by Mary Karr

Dry by Augusten Burroughs

Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp

Alcohol: The Recovering by Leslie Jamison

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

Memoirs about Methamphetamine Use Disorder:

Tweak by Nic Scheff

A Beautiful Boy by David Scheff

GutTeenage Degenerate by S.C. Sterling

Tweaked by Patrick Moore

Memoirs about Opioid/Heroin Use Disorder:

Dreamland by Sam Quinones

High Achiever by Tiffany Jenkins

The Heart and Other Monsters by Rose Andersen

Dopesick by Beth Macy

Strung Out: A Memoir of Overcoming Addiction by Erin Khar

Permanent Midnight byJerry Stahl

Memoirs about Cocaine Use Disorder:

Portrait of the Addict as a Young Man by Bill Clegg

The Night of the Gun by David Carr

Guts: The Endless Follies and Tiny Triumphs of a Giant Disaster by Kristen Johnston

Books on Codependency:

Codependent No More by Melody Beattie

Addict in the House: A No-Nonsense Family Guide Through Addiction and Recovery by Robin Barnett

Understanding Codependency by Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse

You’re Not Crazy—You’re Codependent by Jeanette Menter

Books about Bipolar Disorder:

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison

Madness: A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher

When Screams Become Whispers by Bob Krulish

Books about Anxiety/Depression:

On Edge: A Journey Through Anxiety by Andrea Petersen

First We Make The Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson

I Am Not Myself These Days by Josh Kilmer-Purcell

Good Morning, Monster by Catherine Gildiner

Empty by Susan Burton

The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon

Support Groups

NAMI – local groups

Al-Anon/Al-Ateen

Nar-Anon (for families of those addicted to narcotics)

SAMSHA family support

Additional Resources

What is Enabling?

10 Tips to Loving Someone Suffering From Addiction

Setting Appropriate Boundaries

Holding Boundaries: The Tough Love Move You’ll Never Regret

Why Addicts/Alcoholics Don’t Get Better Immediately: Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS)

Finding Peaks – Episode 29: Family Shame & Addiction

Finding Peaks – Episode 26: Ways to Identify Manipulation & Set Positive Boundaries

SAMHSA’s National Helpline