The material presented
here is not Al-Anon Conference Approved Literature. It is a method
to exchange
information, ideas, feelings, problems and solutions on a personal
level.
My name is Sarah Foroosh and I am finishing my degree at the University of La Verne in Southern California. I am hoping to learn how family members are affected by the addiction of a loved one in the hopes that there will be greater help and attention given to the family as a whole. Currently, only the identified patient (the addict) gets the bulk of the resources and the family deals with so much independently. I am hoping to change that by shedding some light on what other dynamics are taking place. Would you or someone you know be willing to answer some questions on an anonymous questionnaire that might help us understand the consequences of addiction on the whole family? Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Aloha Sarah and welcome to the board. I am a former college student on the subject of alcoholism and drug addiction and a recovering alcoholic and born and raised within the disease of addiction on all sides of my family. I am also a former behavioral health therapist who worked within the recovery industry on many levels. I have been married to addicted women and the majority of my relationships growing up (until the age of 37) were with addicted persons. I am also a former alternatives to violence mens case manager (violence is a large symptom of the disease of addiction). My entry into recovery was from inside the doors of the Al-Anon Family Groups in 1979. Al-Anon does allow college students to attend their open meetings where you can sit and listen to the stories and shares of the fellowship. After the groups you can discuss what you heard at the meeting while we abide by the principle of anonymity and ask that you never reveal the name of the person who mentioned the information and where you heard it. You know how important that is as you mention it in your post. I would suggest the open meeting introduction for college students because while it may not be as structured as a questionaire you get into more information than the questionaire might ask as you will be listening to real life experiences with many similarities and also differences. We love to help others...sometimes to a fault and still we love to help others. That is a very natural element of loving people who loved to be loved in return.
Go to the white pages of your local telephone book and look up the hotline number for Al-Anon in your area and see where and when we meet and then come join us. Bring your questionaire as some might want to fill it out for you. We love the personal approach more often than filling out questionaires and thats about choices. I wish you success and many interesting shares.
