Thank you, Emily…for your kind wishes about our son…
I am so happy to report that he grabbed on for dear life 2 years, 2.5 months ago (but who’s counting!!!)…
We are truly among the most blessed parents on this earth to have been given the one addict/alcoholics who did not go into repeated denial - put his family through sheer hell for decades - ruining relationships, careers, marriages etc. (at least so far, anyway…as it is always one day at a time with this disease and we do know it).
His disease was caught early and he was actually quite easily convinced to go into residential rehab at the age of 22 after his live-in girlfriend (whom he thought he was going to marry after they graduated) abruptly left him and moved out. A 3 wk alcohlic binge resulted (a first such episode…and last, God willing) and he called us me for help. He had stopped going to classes. His apt was a mess. He lived in our home town…so I was able to immediately go to his aid. Moved him home. Outpatient rehab was unsuccessful.
He went to a fab program (friend me anyone who is interested) in MN for teens and very young adults (he was the eldest at 22 and turned 23 there). He initially went for 28 days. The reco’d add’l in-patient treatment…so he stayed there for 4 months.
Then went to a half-way house in the state of WA for 4 months and returned to finish his senior year of undergraduate school….transformed!
Sober…but also, far more independent, secure and on medications that treated underlying emotional issues that he was self-medicating with alcohol. It turns out he had severe anxiety problems (which we knew about and he was on meds for…one of which was an addiction problem) and bipolar syndrome…which we did not know about.
He graduated one year late from college…Cum Laude…he had always kept a pretty good GPA…but then when he returned, he ACED his last semester, which put him over the cut off for Cum Laude!
Which, made his getting into grad school for this fall nicely simple!
From graduation in June 2010 he continued to work at a part time job he picked up when he returned from rehab, tutoring and coordinating after school activities for kids in school in an underserved community (grades 3-6). After graduating, he filled in the other 20 hrs working at a half way house for addicts/alcoholics who were released from the state prison system and this was a way-point as they found work and a place to live according to their early release terms after going through a prison sponsored rehab program.
With some good advice and mentoring from a professor and a former babysitter who went on to be a pediatrician and child psychiatrist at our Children’s Hospital, he decided to get an MSW. His first choice was U. of MD/Baltimore, as they offer a dual major in Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
He felt really strongly that the dual focus of the program he had attended…which identified his underlying mental health issues as well as solving his addiction issues, was responsible for his success.
He was accepted, moves to Baltimore end of July/early August…
So, thanks for your kind wishes…we are thrilled with the outcome so far.
The answer to many, many long nights of prayer!
April (Anni)
P.S. I got through by working my own 12 Step program via Alanon, which I highly commend to anyone who has an alcoholic or a addict in their lives…
Emily