Are you Struggling to Support a Loved One with Emotional Challenges? Do you Second Guess Yourself on how to be Most Effective? Learn more about our upcoming Family & Friends Group and secure your spot!

Family & Friends Group

Facilitated by: Justean Lebel, MSW, RSW & Jane Cunningham, MSW, RSW

Dates: Tuesdays, Beginning February 18, 2025 through to April 15, 2025

(No session on March 11)

Time: 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM

Location: Online via Microsoft Teams

Our 8-week online Family & Friends Group supports those in relationships with people they love who struggle with emotional dysregulation (e.g., BPD) and other mental health challenges. Our group provides education, skills training and strategies for navigating relationships while prioritizing personal well-being.

Sessions cost $120/person or $100/person with multiple family members. There is an additional fee for an assessment/ orientation. Coverage may be available through extended health benefits.

Schedule of Topics  

Session 1: Your Roadmap to BPD 

• Essentials to understanding the BPD diagnosis and its etiology 
• What works: validation and compassion—an introduction

Session 2: “You’re Sick!” “No I’m Not!” Alternatives to a No-Win Battle 

• Tools and skills for speaking your loved one’s language and escaping endless power struggles 
• Building opportunities for change in your loved one by doing what works: acceptance 
• More on validation  

Session 3: The Blame Game

• Skills and tools for replacing blame and resentment with effective communication  

Session 4: Stop Telling me to Take Care of Myself! Finding Time for Me 

• Instead of a lecture on self-care, this is an exploration of the loved one’s guilt and other powerful things that get in the way of prioritizing our own wellbeing. 
• Tools for coping with guilt for the caregiver  

 Session 5: Loss in Slow Motion 

• When one person in the family is struggling, we all are. Caring for a loved one with BPD can feel like you’re losing them in slow motion: one crisis at a time. 
• Tools for radically acknowledging or accepting our loved one’s mental health 
• Supporting our grief and promoting healing 

 Session 6: Why Tough Love Doesn’t Work 

• When we say no, things get out of control at home! 
• Replacing harsh boundaries with skills to influence the behaviour of your loved one: understanding the importance of reinforcement, consequences and choices. 
• Tools for choosing our priorities wisely when saying no with compassion

Session 7: When Crisis is My New Normal: Getting out of Chaos

• Skills for coping with our own fear when unsafe situations arise 
• How to speak your loved one’s language in crisis. Validation tools when safety is a concern—when and how to use them 

 Session 8: When Crisis is my New Normal Part 2 

• Skills for redirecting and influencing your loved one’s behaviour in unsafe situations 
• How to increase the likelihood of safety in the future for your loved one and yourself