Family Advising

The family retains me directly for counsel on the decisions a family member's behavioral health or substance use creates: disagreement within the family, boundaries and financial support, housing, independence, and, where relevant, treatment.

What I Handle

Reaching decisions the family can act on together
Boundaries and financial support
Housing, living arrangements, and independence
Treatment and non-treatment decisions, including competing recommendations
Evaluating programs and levels of care when treatment is needed
Transitions and setbacks
Directive coaching for family members as decisions arise and pressure builds to reverse them

When to Engage It

When a family member's behavioral health or substance use is affecting the whole family and the decisions have become difficult: when the family disagrees, when support may be enabling rather than helping, when functioning is declining, when professionals have recommended different things, or when no one is sure what the family's role should be.

How This Is Different

I am retained by the family and work outside any treatment relationship. I tell the family plainly what I believe should happen and stay with them as they carry it out. When programs or providers need to be considered, I evaluate them with a clinician's eye, and the firm accepts no referral or placement compensation.

How This Is Engaged

Families typically begin with a Defined Engagement and move to Ongoing Advisory when the situation will run for months. How Clients Engage →

How I Work

I handle every engagement personally, from the first call onward. Families reach me directly rather than through staff, I travel to meet them when being there serves the situation, and meetings are arranged around the family's schedule and privacy, including at home.