Attachment – a Parenting & Buddhist Perspective

The Foundation House Family Workshop is an intensive, three-day family support program designed to educate family members about the Foundation House approach to early recovery in an extended-care setting while refocusing the attention of the family on their own healing process. The 2017 Foundation House Family Weekend was a really special event the group that experienced it will not soon forget. We were lucky enough to be joined by multiple special guests to share their experience and their expertise on the topic of family, attachment, and recovery.

Brad Reedy (Co-founder and Clinical Director for Evoke Therapy Programs), Michael “Griff” Griffin (lead therapist at Evoke Cascades), Hamish White (Owner/Founder of Recovery Counseling Services) and the Venerable Tulku Jigme Rinpoche (Tibetan Buddhist Rinpoche and Teacher from the Palmo Center for Peace in Eugene Oregon) all joined us for the weekend to lend their knowledge, explore the family’s role in the recovery process, and how parents and loved ones can improve the communication, support and boundaries that will help the entire family system heal.

75 family members and residents spent Friday through Sunday engaging in group discussions, presentations, process groups and experiential activities. We swung the bat together on the softball field, tossed dodgeballs around a room with blindfolds on, sat in meditation with Tulku Jigme Rinpoche, and enjoyed food prepared by our residents in our cafe. The weekend was a summation of our core mission here at Foundation House. We do the hard work, we enjoy the fun and the results, and we do it together.

In preparation for our upcoming four-day voyage across Casco Bay, fifteen of our residents undertook a sea kayaking crash course this Friday. From 9am until 4pm the guys were on the water learning everything from technique and balance to rescue procedure for oneself and others in the event of a capsize.  It turns out that there are few things more galvanizing than depending on your fellows to pull you back into the relative safety of your boat after it becomes clear that you will not be able to do so on your own.

Foxhole surfing every night at Higgins Beach in Cape Elizabeth has quickly become a favorite of our residents and alumni alike! Getting out on the water in the late afternoon as the sun is setting, riding waves, and having fun together is what sobriety and Foundation House is all about!