Optional 45-Day Parent Coaching & Aftercare

The Parent Support & Coaching Program is a 45-day aftercare program that is provided as an option to parents following their teen’s residential treatment stay at Muir Wood. Led by a licensed therapist, this program involves weekly scheduled phone calls or Skype sessions with parents, along with a specific curriculum based on Muir Wood’s Saturday Family Program.

As treatment can be a significant investment of resources – time, emotions, and finances, the Parent Coaching Program is about providing concrete support to parents as their child transitions back home and reintegrates into the family, school, and community. Active involvement in this program is also designed to protect the considerable investment parents have made in their child’s recovery and increase the potential success of long-term goals.

Muir Wood recognizes that parenting can be tough under any circumstances. When substance use and underlying behavioral health issues are added to the mix, it can seem impossible to remain grounded, have clarity, and take appropriate actions. Fear, guilt, shame, hurt, and other emotions may overwhelm parents, and often parents need someone to help guide them out of the fray and provide assistance in those moments of confusion and chaos.

The philosophy at Muir Wood involves the whole family with a strong commitment to serving the teen as part of a family system. The Parent Coaching Program is a real-time, phone-based service, that allows parents a weekly scheduled call that focuses on the here and now. It allows the coach and parent to identify specific ideas, tools, and skills to successfully parent a teen returning home after a residential program stay. It also allows for parents to further the gains made by the family while in treatment. This program also includes the ability of parents to make emergency phone calls where they can access the Parent Coach should a crisis arise. Should this occur, parents can get the support and guidance they need using specific tools to help them work through the crisis as a team.

This curriculum-based program builds on the Muir Wood Saturday Family Program, with an emphasis on practical applications of parenting skills, structure, and nurturing, and a focus on how to best put those principles into real-life practice. Parents will have approximately one hour of homework each week to go along with the 75-minute weekly phone call or Skype session.