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Live Webinar In Person

How to Work with Families Who Are Struggling with Codependency

Kevin Petersen, MA, LMFT
Rawland Glass, MSW, LCSW
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Date & Time

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Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

  • Describe one scientific basis that demonstrates we are “hard wired for connection”

  • Identify and articulate dynamics of External Dependence

  • Explain Intra-Connection as the primary goal of personal growth and recovery work

Educational Goal

The educational goal of this course is to help participants identify the core underlying concerns often labeled as codependency and understand how these concerns are rooted in trauma. Participants will examine how trauma-driven external dependency leads to patterns of disconnection and destructive interaction, and how it represents a disruption of the fundamental human capacity for intra-connection.

Description

This course is designed to equip mental health professionals with a deeper understanding of how family system dynamics, relational patterns, and environmental influences directly impact the development and maintenance of substance use disorders and other addictive behaviors.

Participants will examine how family roles, communication styles, boundaries, and relational stressors manifest in clinical presentation, how maladaptive coping strategies become reinforced within the family system, and how these dynamics shape treatment resistance, motivation, and relapse vulnerability.

Through an exploration of both theory and applied practice, clinicians will learn how to:

Identify family-system patterns and relational behaviors commonly seen in individuals with substance use disorders. Understand the developmental and relational links between family functioning, emotional regulation, and addiction. Recognize how family roles, boundaries, and intergenerational dynamics reinforce addictive cycles. Integrate family-systems-informed interventions into assessment, treatment planning, and family work. Strengthen therapeutic alliances by improving communication, restoring healthy boundaries, and supporting structured relational repair. By connecting the “why” behind client and family behaviors with actionable, family-systems-informed clinical strategies, this training empowers clinicians to more effectively support individuals and families on their path to healing and lasting recovery.

Target Audience

  • Addiction Professional
  • Counselor
  • Marriage & Family Therapist
  • Psychologist
  • Social Worker

Presenters

Kevin Petersen, MA, LMFT
Kevin Petersen, MA, LMFT was born and raised in Palo Alto, CA. Kevin graduated from Palo Alto High School and enrolled at The University of Southern California in 1982. After living in the south of Spain and working on a farm as a tractor driver in 1983, he came back to USC and graduated in 1994 with a degree in Social Sciences and moved to Denver, CO in 1995. Kevin had a successful career in sales and marketing and then in 2008 he enrolled in the Masters of Marriage and Family Therapy program at Regis University and was part of the first class that graduated from that program in 2011. He then spent three and a half years working at Arapahoe Douglas Mental Health Network as an in-home therapist, case manager, crisis evaluator and outpatient therapist for Child and Family Services, he also worked part time for The Bridge House, ADMHN’s Acute Treatment Unit, as a Mental Health Technician and Counselor. Kevin opened his private practice, Petersen Family Counseling, in 2014 and specializes in working with families and individuals struggling with addictions, codependency, and parenting. Kevin earned his LMFT in March of 2017. Kevin published “Chronic Hope: Parenting the Addicted Child” in October 2019 and “Chronic Hope: Families & Addiction” in January 2021. Kevin began his journey of recovery in May 1991 and has been sober ever since. He lives in Jacksonville, Florida with his wife, Amy, and three Boston Terriers Bert, Blanche and Stella. Kevin has been the Director of Family Services at Jaywalker Lodge since July 2024.
Rawland Glass, MSW, LCSW
Rawland Glass, MSW, LCSW has been a clinician and social worker for the past 41 years, including private practice and development and presenter on inner healing workshops. He has a broad experience base including managing addiction treatment contracts for the state of Idaho; serving as executive director of a non-profit which provided transition housing; working with various vulnerable populations in adult and child protection, managing group homes for "at-risk” children, Clinical Director and then Chief Clinical Officer, and development of online classes for families. His recent private practice has had a special emphasis on family work and parent support and coaching. He was the recipient of the Addiction Professional 2012 Outstanding Clinician Award. He holds a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) degree from Pacific Union College and a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree from Walla Walla University, with a dual emphasis in Clinical Work with Children & Families and Addiction Treatment.

Financially Sponsored By

  • Jaywalker Lodge