Guest Publish: Enable — we do it and spew it.

I largely experienced great kindness in my dark days of parenting. My friends prayed and encouraged while I blamed and shamed myself. But how easy it is for us — for me — to armchair quarterback a parent who is doing the best they can with what they know, or don’t know. Thanks to Katherine Ketcham for a call to grace.

I Hate the Word ‘Enable’: Getting Blamed & Shamed When You Have a Child with an Addiction

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Coming Out of the Fog. On Treatment

Our son says treatment is a place where one acquires education and enlightenment as to one’s addiction and is given tools to embrace a new and different way of living apart from substances. Fog-dissolving.

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It Was Enough

Just Between Us magazine is focusing on the positive.  Oh, there’s reality, but in celebration of the upside of life’s downsides, we wrote articles for JBU on the gifts of recovery.  “The lesser atrocities of what used to be addiction?”   Nope, gifts. You might be thinking … 

Read the article here

Read Ted’s companion article here

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Looks Bad on Paper

Years ago, about ten rows back in the auditorium a tearful mom talked to me after a school presentation on the dangers of alcohol and other drugs. “I don’t do anything that matters,” she said. “I’m so consumed with my son’s drug problem.” I could relate to the moon and back having felt that way to be sure. It gave new perspective to hear her say it out loud. What she does matters — she loves someone.

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Every Parent’s Post-Treatment Dream – A Plan! Partnership for Drug-Free Kids nails it.

Making a plan upon his return home for the summer was so helpful. Everyone knows what’s expected and agrees. Parents breathe easier. Thank you Partnership for Drug-Free Kids. Grrrrrreat info.

How to Make a Recovery Plan With Your Son or Daughter After Treatment

How to Create a Recovery Plan

If your teen is coming home from residential treatment for a drug or alcohol addiction, it’s a good idea for you and your family to create a recovery plan.

A recovery plan is a way to map out what you all want as a family going forward, building on the great progress your son or daughter has made during treatment. It’s a tool to determine what actions will best support his or her recovery and personal growth, while enhancing your family’s overall well-being.

A recovery plan is developed together with your child and contains both rewards and

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