Guilty Party – Parent or Child?

Once you become a parent, you can never go back. Suddenly here is this little person who is totally reliant on you. It doesn’t end when the child becomes an adult either. As the years go by, all the highs and lows, the joys and upsets of a child can become your own. Nothing can ever quite compare to the love of a parent for a child.

As a parent, finding out that your child is suffering from drug addiction can be an almighty blow. A Mother’s love intensifies all emotions, and can cause an anxiety filled rollercoaster of depression and guilt; really a waking nightmare.

Most parents start to look at where they went wrong, what mistakes they made or how their actions caused this situation. That love and that responsibility never go away and it is not an unexpected reaction, but in my experience majority of addicts come from loving families who did the best they could.

Of course, there are those with exceptional circumstances, traumatic childhoods, years of suffering and other things to overcome but in my opinion that it is not generally the norm.

A big step for an addict and his family on the road to recovery is the realisation that no one else is responsible for his condition other than him. Truly becoming aware of this, can be a life-changing moment. From that moment onwards, it acts as a guiding rod, to more and more responsibility, morality and well-being.

So parents, don’t beat yourselves up about anything, it doesn’t help anyone. Rather keep giving all the love and support possible to get your child the help they need to overcome addiction and regain a sober happy life.

For help with addiction in your children,
or more information on our rehabilitation programme,
and how our step-by-step programme
including life skills courses can help your child, contact us.