My Story
When addiction knocked on my family's door and stole our son, I was in shock. I was a teacher and my husband was the soccer coach. We lived in a nice neighborhood, volunteered for the PTA and belonged to the local pool.
Shame and fear isolated us and I spent precious years yelling, crying and searching for help and answers. "Rock Bottom" and "Tough Love" did not feel right and I had nothing but the shattered pieces of my family to stare at in despair.
I searched for answers and help for both myself and my son. In desperation, I realized that my son was walking further from help, and I was also on a path leading to sadness, guilt and shame. The only one that I had control over was myself, and I became determined to regain control over my own life, rebuild the family relationships in jeopardy and love my son greatly. In that moment I discovered that working on creating healthy boundaries, communicating with compassion and continuing to love my son where he was at - immersed in a disease that he could not control-was the only way out - for both of us. I could not help my son if I did not first save myself.
I have hope that all families fighting the battle of addiction can regain peace and hope and learn to live their lives with intention, led by love and compassion-as we are only promised today.
My Approach
I encourage and empower families to create a path to self care, problem solving and goal setting to begin to heal from the trauma of addiction.
I teach families behavioral and motivational strategies for interacting with their loved ones and how to use positive communication skills to improve interactions and maximize influence to change.
