http://aarc.ab.ca/came-to-get-my-child-back-and-found-myself/
I couldn’t believe my life had come to this. Here I was sitting in first chair of a long-term family drug treatment center with my 16-year-old child. I was angry, resentful and terrified. I had come to get my child back not realizing that along the way I had also lost myself.
By the time I had got to AARC I had lost the ability to feel joy. Living with anxiety had become commonplace and I no longer believed things would ever get better. Hope had been replaced with fear.
The staff at AARC recognizes alcoholism is a family disease and chooses to treat the entire family. Siblings and parents receive support through group counseling and one on one counseling. Family members are also encouraged to get a sponsor and work the 12 steps of Al-Anon.
Listening to other parents further along in the program share their experience of what it was like for them when their child was out using and how beat down they felt by the time they got to AARC let me know that they had once been where I was. It was obvious though; they were no longer in the same place. I saw them laugh; use tools that helped bring them peace and serenity, and have hope for the future. I wanted what they had.
I followed the suggestions of the parents and staff. I worked the steps and reached out for help. Slowly I began to feel better and the newcomers began to ask me how I had got where I was. I gladly shared my experience, strength and hope.
Today I have more gratitude, joy, peace, serenity and sense of purpose then I have ever had. My life is not without it’s challenges but I have been given tools to deal with what ever comes up. I have people I can call that accept me for who I am and help me when I need it.
There is a saying that goes the child is addicted to their drug of choice and the parent is addicted to the child. It feels like there is some truth in that statement for my son and I. Thankfully my child and I were both given the opportunity to learn how to live differently. Today I have my child and myself back. For that I am incredibly grateful.
D.