The experiences of affected family members and friends attending BreakThrough: Families Understanding Addiction

Introduction/Issues: Family members affected by addiction face challenges to their health and wellbeing, in a context of stress, stigma and isolation. BreakThrough offers weekly sessions helping participants understand addiction and access support networks. Informal feedback indicated participants viewed BreakThrough positively, but how this translated to their daily lives was not understood. We explored the experiences and outcomes of affected family members participating in BreakThrough.

Method/Approach: Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 21 family members of people experiencing addiction, recruited online at the end of BreakThrough sessions held July to December 2021. The interviews were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis [1].

Key Findings: We interpreted participants' experiences as three themes: BreakThrough as validating their experiences; participants reflecting critically on their approaches to the addiction and changing their approach (‘not fixing, stepping back’); and BreakThrough as meeting an urgent need for education and knowledge, to help participants make sense of their experiencers. We also summarised participants' perspectives on the online setting of the program.

Discussions and Conclusions: Our findings highlight how BreakThrough validates participants' experiences, particularly through addressing stigma. Participants perceived a change in coping style from ‘fixing’ to ‘stepping back’, following BreakThrough. They were able to harness the collective insights of peers and make sense of their experiences through education and support. Participants indicated a strong preference for attending BreakThrough online, for convenience and to address geographic barriers to in-person attendance.

Implications for Practice or Policy: BreakThrough goes beyond providing practical skills and strategies; it supports participants to shift beliefs and approaches in supporting their relative. Programs such as BreakThrough provide an avenue for validation and ultimately serving to de-stigmatise addiction. This information is useful to consider in the design and implementation of similar programs.