sparta
August 8th, 2012, 01:42 PM
Moderator, please READ the beginning of this before determining that it should be moved.
My mother was an alcoholic when I was growing up. She never hit me, seldom yelled at me even. But she did abuse me. At the age of 5 years old, I was in charge of cooking meals for the family (my mother, my younger brother, and myself). This was because my mother was always too intoxicated to do any of this herself. I am not posting this because I want pity, and not even because I want to get something off of my chest. My mother's sober now and has been for 13 years, our life is great. I am very close to her.
I do, however, want to tell other people going through this what they can do if something is happening in their home. There are so many different resources for both you, your family, and the alcoholic(s) living with you.
(1) www.aa.org - Alcoholics Anonymous. AA is an anonymous group in which Alcholics can go to try and seek recovery. They have a heavy basis in Spirituality. This does not necessarily mean you need to be religious, but it would be difficult to participate in this particular program as an Atheist. Simply put, they agree that there is a higher power than themselves that can help them with their disease.
**Yes, Disease. It is scientifically proven that Alcoholism is a mental disease, the same way that ADHD is. Like ADHD, there are treatments for Alcoholism, both medical, and conversational.**
(2) www.ala-teen.org - Al-Ateen. The full website for this is actually http://www.al-anon.al-ateen.org, but you will be automatically linked to this website by just typing in al-ateen.org. Al-Ateen is a program for teenagers living with, or who know an Alcoholic. The Alcoholic does not need to be in any similar program. This means that if you are a 17 year old with an alcholic mother who refuses to admit it, you can still visit Al-Ateen meetings. Al-Ateen meetings discuss what YOU can do the next time you find the alcoholic has been drinking. There are things that people won't like (ie. calling Children's Services) and there are things that are incredibly useful, although sadly necessary (ie. how to position somebody who has passed out from drinking).
(3) www.ala-non.ala-teen.org - Al-Anon. This is similar to Al-Ateen, but for older members of the family. Ie. If the mother of the family is the alcoholic, her 17 year old son goes to Al-Ateen, the husband may go to Al-Anon.
(4) Kids Help Phone. This one I cannot stress enough. I didn't know about this program when I was growing up, and it's unfortunate. I have dealt with them multiple times, and I have volunteered with them. This program is excellent. They have any and all resources that you need to know for any issue that a child may have to deal with. It is completely anonymous, they do not use any call tracers (ie. Caller ID, *69). In fact, they have recently made it so that their number will not even appear on a phone record given by the phone company. It is completely and totally anonymous.
The point of this post is to show children of alcholic parents, or brothers/sisters of alcoholic siblings that there ARE resources out there to help them. Alcohol abuse is as serious as any kind of other abuse. To this day, I struggle with things that wouldn't have otherwise been an issue if not for growing up in the dysfunctional household that I did.
My mother was an alcoholic when I was growing up. She never hit me, seldom yelled at me even. But she did abuse me. At the age of 5 years old, I was in charge of cooking meals for the family (my mother, my younger brother, and myself). This was because my mother was always too intoxicated to do any of this herself. I am not posting this because I want pity, and not even because I want to get something off of my chest. My mother's sober now and has been for 13 years, our life is great. I am very close to her.
I do, however, want to tell other people going through this what they can do if something is happening in their home. There are so many different resources for both you, your family, and the alcoholic(s) living with you.
(1) www.aa.org - Alcoholics Anonymous. AA is an anonymous group in which Alcholics can go to try and seek recovery. They have a heavy basis in Spirituality. This does not necessarily mean you need to be religious, but it would be difficult to participate in this particular program as an Atheist. Simply put, they agree that there is a higher power than themselves that can help them with their disease.
**Yes, Disease. It is scientifically proven that Alcoholism is a mental disease, the same way that ADHD is. Like ADHD, there are treatments for Alcoholism, both medical, and conversational.**
(2) www.ala-teen.org - Al-Ateen. The full website for this is actually http://www.al-anon.al-ateen.org, but you will be automatically linked to this website by just typing in al-ateen.org. Al-Ateen is a program for teenagers living with, or who know an Alcoholic. The Alcoholic does not need to be in any similar program. This means that if you are a 17 year old with an alcholic mother who refuses to admit it, you can still visit Al-Ateen meetings. Al-Ateen meetings discuss what YOU can do the next time you find the alcoholic has been drinking. There are things that people won't like (ie. calling Children's Services) and there are things that are incredibly useful, although sadly necessary (ie. how to position somebody who has passed out from drinking).
(3) www.ala-non.ala-teen.org - Al-Anon. This is similar to Al-Ateen, but for older members of the family. Ie. If the mother of the family is the alcoholic, her 17 year old son goes to Al-Ateen, the husband may go to Al-Anon.
(4) Kids Help Phone. This one I cannot stress enough. I didn't know about this program when I was growing up, and it's unfortunate. I have dealt with them multiple times, and I have volunteered with them. This program is excellent. They have any and all resources that you need to know for any issue that a child may have to deal with. It is completely anonymous, they do not use any call tracers (ie. Caller ID, *69). In fact, they have recently made it so that their number will not even appear on a phone record given by the phone company. It is completely and totally anonymous.
The point of this post is to show children of alcholic parents, or brothers/sisters of alcoholic siblings that there ARE resources out there to help them. Alcohol abuse is as serious as any kind of other abuse. To this day, I struggle with things that wouldn't have otherwise been an issue if not for growing up in the dysfunctional household that I did.