Huntsville, AL – April 10, 2009

At Paint Rock Valley, an exciting part of our programming allows families to work on their individual issues while their son or daughter is in treatment.

“When my husband and I experienced our first parent ceremony for earning our first stage in the Parent Stages, it was a fulfillment of a commitment which we made to ourselves and to our son, commented a parent, whose son is currently at Paint Rock Valley. “We wanted to learn as much about the program as we could and we told him we would walk every step of the way with him until he graduated from the program. We promised our son we would never give up on him, and going through the Parent Stages was in keeping with that promise.”

Paint Rock Valley's family members have the opportunity to work through a similar stage system that their son or daughter works through while they are enrolled in our program. While each student is working on his/her individual issues in the program, the family members too, are working through identified areas to accomplish their goals and achieve each stage of the family stage system. This family stage system coincides with the stage system the student is working through in the program.

During monthly visits on and off campus, weekly phone calls, parent support days and monthly family conferences, the family is able to work on changes with the family as a whole. The students and their families work together to sort through their own individual issues as well as the family issues that lead up to their placement at Paint Rock Valley. The families and their child then participate in a ceremony to recognize those accomplishments, provide one another with feedback and outline what they are going to continue to accomplish. They do these ceremonies together on our monthly Family Day. The students help organize and prepare the ceremony for their parents.

This is an opportunity for recognition of all the hard work the family is putting into making changes in the family unit in order for the student to continue to be successful after he or she graduates Paint Rock Valley. The students often talk about how much this aspect of the program helps them to stay motivated knowing that they are not in this alone and their family is working right alongside them.