PAL Blog
A Parent’s Story
Articles by Parents Like You
The Son We Knew, The Disease We Didn’t Understand
My husband and I have been married for 31 years and have two children. Our younger son, Mark, is the subject of this story. For much of his childhood and teenage years, Mark was the kind of son every parent hopes for. He was a good student, active in sports and music,...
From Chaos to Hope: Finding Freedom Through Letting Go Of Control
We are a blended family with four children along with eight grandkids and two great-grandkids. Our daughter Emily was an athlete growing up and an overachiever in school—always going above and beyond what was required. Around age sixteen, she began smoking...
When Love Means Doing Things Differently
When Love Means Doing Things Differently I am the parent of four children and two grandchildren. My daughter, Rita, was adopted from another country as an infant. At the age of fifteen, she became pregnant and made the loving decision to place her child up for...
The View from Recovery
Articles by People in Recovery
When Hope Feels Exhausting
There was a time in my life when I was convinced that Hope was something I had run out of. I couldn't imagine a future much different from the life I was living. Every promise I made to myself seemed to end the same way. Every attempt to change felt temporary. Every...
Freedom Isn’t Free
Every July, we celebrate freedom. But somewhere along the way, I realized something about recovery: Freedom isn’t free. In fact, recovery has cost me a great deal. It cost me my way of doing things. I had to stop being the exception. Stop believing I was somehow...
Trusted With More
June in Phoenix has a way of reminding me. The heat doesn’t ask permission before it arrives. It settles over everything - sidewalks, steering wheels, skin, breath. There is a heaviness to it that only people who have lived through an Arizona summer truly understand....
From Counselors
Articles by PAL and Partner Counselors
When Hope Feels Heavy
Adapted from The Four Seasons of Recovery for Parents of Alcoholics and Addicts by Michael Speakman, PAL Founder There is a season that many parents know all too well. It is the season when hope feels heavy. Not gone. Not absent. Just heavy. When a loved one is...
Letting Go of Control Is Not Giving Up—It’s Choosing Freedom
Adapted from The Four Seasons of Recovery By Michael Speakman (founder of PAL) For many parents walking alongside an addicted loved one, a persistent question surfaces again and again: if I let go, am I giving up on my child? It’s an honest and painful question,...
When Helping Becomes Hurting: Rethinking Our Role as Parents of Adult Children
Adapted from The Four Seasons of Recovery By Michael Speakman (founder of PAL) As parents, helping comes naturally. It’s wired into us. When our children struggle—especially with substance use—we often do everything we can to protect, guide, and support them. But...
