The Olive Prime Family Clinic

Background and Rationale

The Olive Prime Family Clinic is a program borne out of the desire to build capacities of family members and the general public to support and influence healthy recovery of those recovering from addiction or substance use disorders and those who require professional help for suspected substance-related problems to seek appropriate and timely help.

Our experience at the Olive Prime Premium Psychological Services over the past years of mental health service delivery has been very robust and revealing. This has given us the opportunity to relate closely with the assertion that addiction is a family disease. This is because when one member of the family becomes addicted to substance(s), it directly or indirectly affects every other member of the family physically, psychologically, emotionally and financially, causing enormous distortions in the family’s dynamics.

The Olive Prime Family Clinic is anchored on the belief that the family is a system, and whenever a part of the system is affected, the whole system requires treatment so that no room is left for any dysfunction within the system while treatment is ongoing and recovery is taking place. It is therefore imperative to accord the family unit the needed priority during treatment for all mental health conditions.

It is hoped that when family members have appropriate education and treatment for themselves, they can play significant roles in the patients’ recognition of their problem and acceptance of treatment and recovery, serving as a robust support system during recovery. Also those individuals in need of professional help can also be supported and referred to professionals where they can receive appropriate assessment and treatment for their mental health or substance-related disorders.

Specific Aim and Objectives of the Family Clinic

The overall aim of this program is to facilitate a sustainable healthy recovery of individuals suffering or seeking help for various mental health conditions and especially substance use disorders (addiction).

The Program seeks to achieve the following objectives:




1. To build the capacity of family members, especially caregivers and parents, to support patients to achieve healthy recovery




2. To educate family members, especially caregivers and parents, about substance use disorders, how to prevent them, and evidence-based approaches to their management




3. To explore possible approaches for fostering good family ties between patients and their support system i.e. spouse, parents, siblings, friends, etc




4. To create a forum where families share ideas, challenges and proffer solutions to common problems in a non-judgmental atmosphere




5. To provide a platform for professional cross-fertilization of ideas on fostering healthy family values among parents, caregivers, and patients




6. To equip both caregivers and parents with the knowledge to be able to identify possible signs of substance use among their children and how to seek help

How is this Program Run?

This program is a 90-minute virtual meeting on Zoom platform where participants (family members and other interested members of the public) join and participate online with the full protection of their identities by the meeting host. Resource persons for the meeting are core mental health/addiction professionals such as psychiatrists, clinical and developmental psychologists, and educationists who make presentations on insightful topics all aimed at educating family members and the general public about addiction and how to support their loved ones recovering from addiction or support those who need professional help to seek timely help. Families would also have opportunities to share their experiences and how they have been coping.

This meeting holds every 3rd Saturday of the month by 9am prompt.

Emails and SMS are sent to notify and remind participants of meeting days and time.