The Initial Family Contact
From the moment a client enters treatment and grants permission for family communication, our Family Program Director reaches out directly. This first call is the beginning of the family's own process. Micha Matherne, LCSW, our Family Program Director, introduces the program, explains what is available, answers initial questions, and makes sure every family member knows exactly how to get connected to the support that is waiting for them.
Families also receive follow-up information by email, including access to virtual support groups, educational materials, and guidance on starting their own recovery process.
Monthly Family Workshops
The centerpiece of our Family Program is a monthly three-day workshop held Friday through Sunday. The workshop includes the client and their selected family members or support system and is designed as the first structured step toward rebuilding damaged relationships.
During the workshop, families learn about the disease of addiction and its impact on family systems, begin to examine the roles and dynamics that have formed around their loved one's substance use, and start developing the communication tools and boundaries that support recovery rather than inadvertently undermine it. It is frequently an emotionally significant experience. Families often describe it as the moment they first began to understand what they have all been living through.
For clients who are further along in long-term treatment, an advanced second workshop is offered every two to three months. This workshop builds on the foundation of the first, exploring deeper clinical territory including trauma, shame, and their lasting effects on family relationships.
Both workshops combine psychoeducation, talk therapy, and experiential techniques designed to create genuine breakthroughs rather than surface-level discussion.
Weekly Virtual Support Groups
Our Family Program includes two weekly virtual groups open to all participating families.
On Tuesdays, our Family Support Group provides a consistent, welcoming space to process ongoing experiences, ask questions, and receive support from others navigating similar circumstances. On Thursdays, our Psychoeducation Group deepens families' understanding of addiction, mental health, codependency, and the recovery process.
Both groups are virtual, making them accessible to families across Louisiana and beyond who cannot travel to Baton Rouge regularly.
Monthly Family Alumni Group
Once families complete the initial workshops and become regular group participants, they are invited into our monthly Family Alumni Group. This is a long-term community space where healing continues after a client's formal treatment ends, where new challenges can be explored, progress can be celebrated, and the habits and insights built during treatment can be reinforced over time.
Recovery is a long game for families as much as it is for the men in treatment. The Alumni Group is built around that reality.
Individual Consultations With Micha Matherne, LCSW
Families navigating particularly complex situations, or who simply need one-on-one guidance rather than a group setting to start, can schedule private Zoom meetings or phone calls directly with Micha. These consultations are tailored to each family's specific circumstances and provide the kind of individualized clinical support that group programming alone cannot always deliver.
Visitation for Chapter Three Families
For families of clients in our Chapter Three Program, in-person visitation is available every Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM with counselor approval. For families who live out of state or cannot travel, virtual options are available. Staying connected during long-term treatment matters, and we work to make that possible regardless of geography.
Meet Micha Matherne, LCSW
Director of Family Programs at St. Christopher's
The Family Program at St. Christopher's is led by Micha Matherne, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with years of experience working with families navigating addiction and co-occurring mental health conditions. Micha brings both clinical depth and genuine personal warmth to her work, creating an environment in which families feel heard, supported, and equipped to take meaningful action.
She understands that the families who come to her are often exhausted, confused, and carrying pain that has built up over years. She meets them exactly where they are. Every family that enters our program receives her direct attention from the first phone call forward.
Micha is available for individual consultations via Zoom or phone and serves as the consistent clinical anchor for every family engaged in our program throughout their loved one's time at STC and beyond.
