Hi Mrs. B247- counseling has helped me enormously over the years. It has helped me with the guilt, the grief over all that has been lost, the sadness, and the fear. I haven’t conquered all of it, and I may never, but I have improved a lot. I have also gone to many Al-anon meetings and I know it has helped so many people, but it wasn’t quite the right fit for me. At Al-anon, you don’t talk too much about your “person” who has the addiction because they want you to focus on yourself which is good too. But that’s why this place is so good for me because I do need to talk about him sometimes. I also don’t want to live the rest of my life like this. It’s such a hard place, if this was anyone other than our child, we’d probably cut them out of our life for good and have some peace, but it doesn’t feel natural to do that. And I don’t judge those parents who choose to do that either.
I know my son really, really needs counseling. He’s never really consistently done it and it’s so critical for him. He needs to get out of his own head and his distorted thinking. But, as with everything else, I can’t make him. You may have some leverage with them if they live at home, but mine doesn’t so what can you do?
The important thing is that you are a valuable human being, and deserving of some peace in your life. You have every right to take some of that wasted energy on them and put it on yourself. Hugs to you..❤