I was reminded of how important it is to ensure the family members of patients/clients with addictions realise that they need to recover too. This blog by a doctor on the British Medical Journal's website captures the harrowing sense of loss as a partner's alcohol dependence takes hold and then the dawning of hope as … Continue reading Family Recovery
Category: Family
Chemical Dependency & The Family – from the Dawn Farm Education Series
This program will provide participants with a basic understanding of how addiction impacts each member of a family. The About the presenter will describe the roles and behaviors that family members often acquire when living with addiction, ways in which each family member is affected by addiction in the family, and options for family members … Continue reading Chemical Dependency & The Family – from the Dawn Farm Education Series
Intervention – Dawn Farm Education Series
This program will describe how the "Love First" process of Intervention can help chemically dependent people find recovery. Key elements of the "Love First" model for effective intervention with addicted individuals will be discussed. This program will bring PRACTICAL INFORMATION, HELP and HOPE to anyone who cares about a chemically dependent person, and to anyone … Continue reading Intervention – Dawn Farm Education Series
Tough love?
In a public facebook post, David Sheff rails against "tough love" advice to kick addicted loved ones out of the house: Like so many others, he's been indoctrinated by counselors, therapists, and people in 12 step groups. Al-Anon is wonderful --it helped me-- but it doesn’t tell us to let a child or spouse or … Continue reading Tough love?
The “trauma of recovery”
Bill White with Stephanie Brown on the unexpected "trauma of recovery": Bill White: Yes, you used the phrase “trauma of recovery” that just stunned me when I first read it. Stephanie Brown: By 1994/95, we were well into analyzing family data and clearly saw that the experience of trauma, so starkly evident during active addiction, … Continue reading The “trauma of recovery”
My Dad Will Never Stop Smoking Pot
The Atlantic published an personal essay about the impact of her father's marijuana addiction on herself and her siblings. Then there's my sister, the baby, the one who struggled harder than any of us. She tried so desperately to finish high school, a rare feat in my family. Then she tried community college. As we … Continue reading My Dad Will Never Stop Smoking Pot
Anticipatory Grief and Family Recovery
Bill White recently wrote a great post speaking to the experience of family members—first, the trauma of loving an addict, then the unexpected trauma of recovery: There are numerous obstacles that inhibit family recovery from addiction. One of the most critical is the cumulative effects of anticipatory grief (AG). AG is a process through which grieving … Continue reading Anticipatory Grief and Family Recovery
Home is where the meth is
An anthropologist embedded with meth addicts in Missouri and has an interview in the New Republic. The trailer parks of Jefferson County, Missouri, are a far cry from the international cartels of Breaking Bad, but this is the real picture of meth in America: Eveready batteries and Red Devil Lye on kitchen counters, used syringes … Continue reading Home is where the meth is
What it’s all about
I'll head into the holiday with a story from Dawn Farm's holiday mailing. After all, recovery is what it's all about. singing about freedom Keri grew up in a close, creative family. From an early age, music was there. “I think I started performing when I was in preschool,” she remembers. She had real talent—everyone … Continue reading What it’s all about
Learning Non-Reaction in Recovery
Anna David shares her 10th step work with us. One of my favorite things in recovery is that way many people with solid recovery share their 10th step stuff with us in a way that provokes laughter with them. This laughter, which in other contexts could be cutting or toxic, somehow fosters insight, fellowship and growth. … Continue reading Learning Non-Reaction in Recovery
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