Addiction and the Family International Network (AFINet) Webinar Series

Details

Created on Thursday, 08 October 2020 17:35

AFINet is a free-to-join Network, providing a platform which:

• brings together researchers, policy-makers and practitioners;
• promotes the well-being of family members, friends and colleagues who are affected by or concerned about another person’s problems with or addiction to alcohol, drugs or gambling; and
• develops research, policy and practice in the field.

AFINet Membership (free) is by application: www.afinetwork.info/members/apply-for-membership

The AFINet Webinars generally are monthly, and cover a range of topics related to Addiction and the Family. The programme for 2021 is below. Participation in each webinar is free, but to join, you MUST register beforehand. For each Webinar that you are interested in, please register in the few days before it starts, via webropol.com/s/afinetwebinar. Below the programme you can find a video recording of each Webinar that has been presented so far, along with the PowerPoint slides for that Webinar.

Future Webinars

Webinars that have been presented so far

In Their Own Right: Family Members Affected by Alcohol and other Drug Misuse or Gambling

AFINet’s first Webinar was given by Professor Richard Velleman on 20th October 2020. The topic of this Webinar was “In Their Own Right: Family Members Affected by Alcohol and other Drug Misuse or Gambling”. [To view this Webinar, see below.] Professor Velleman examined the evidence-base showing that family members of people with alcohol or other drug or gambling problem are often badly affected by their relative’s problems. He then showed how this evidence led to the creation of the ‘Stress-Strain-Coping-Support’ [SSCS] Model - a useful model for understanding the impact that other people’s addiction problems have on Affected Family Members. Following this he outlined the ‘5-Step Method’, one evidence-based method to help these Affected Family Members which emerged from the SSCS Model, and described the effects that this intervention is having on both Affected Family Members and on practitioners who deliver the intervention, before going on to describe how it is being implemented in various countries world-wide.

Evidence and Implementation of family-based interventions in the addiction field

Dr Gallus Bischof presented AFINet’s second Webinar on “Evidence and Implementation of family-based interventions in the addiction field”. [To view this Webinar and the PowerPoint Slides, see below.] Dr Bischof described and reported the results of a systematic review on the evidence of interventions for AFMs and reported the results of a survey of practitioners in Germany. The implications for further research and service improvement were discussed.

‘Fragile Childhood’: Help for the children of problem drinkers in Finland

Minna Ilva, the Project Manager for the Fragile Childhood programme in Finland, presented AFINet’s third Webinar on “‘Fragile Childhood’: Help for the children of problem drinkers in Finland”. [To view this Webinar and the PowerPoint Slides, see below.] The Fragile Childhood programme has been running in Finland since 1986. It offers help to young and adults who suffer from the adverse effects of parental alcohol use. Ms Ilva described the history and the funding of this programme and then went on to outline its’ current projects. She ended by discussing the needs to improve research and evaluation in this area. The discussion raised many areas where organisations in other countries could learn, and possibly replicate in their own countries.