PAL Blog

Read stories and insights from parents and experts in addiction recovery. Everyone has a story, and by sharing, we can empower each other, and find paths forward – together.

A Parent’s Story

Articles by Parents Like You
Finding support, answers in our darkest hour

Finding support, answers in our darkest hour

  ​​​ My wife and I committed our lives, our marriage, and our family to the Lord early in life. We were blessed with two sons and daughters-in-law and four grandchildren. Brian, our second born, challenged with alcoholism, was always the sensitive, caring, loving...

Finding joy in unexpected dreams

Finding joy in unexpected dreams

  ​​​ “God always allows us to feel the frailty of human love so we can appreciate the strength of His.” C.S. LewisI am a wife, a mother to four, handsome, beautiful, young adult sons, a caregiver to my husband, and a parent of two addicted loved ones.For as long as I...

Finding a path to wholeness

Finding a path to wholeness

          We are a family of five, one girl and two boys.  We recently welcomed two grandchildren. All three of our children did a good job toeing the line through high school and we enjoyed most of their teenage years. Looking back, I could...

The View from Recovery

Articles by People in Recovery
Embracing the here and now

Embracing the here and now

​​​​   I’m writing this from the backseat of a Toyota Camry heading west on the I-10. Swaths of open desert painted green with brush, wildflowers dotting the freeway margins, with random bursts of brilliant yellow and purple, create a picturesque landscape. My...

The future is bright

The future is bright

​​​​   I’m sitting on a filthy curb of a strip mall. Scabs line my face. The crooks of my arms are swollen with sores. Fear and sadness burn in my chest in equal measure. I can’t think about anything anymore unless it involves eliminating my thinking with heroin....

Falling down is inevitable, staying there is not

Falling down is inevitable, staying there is not

​​​​   The greatest achievements and accomplishments I’ve experienced have come at the cost of what felt like endless discomfort. Despite the insight I’ve gained over the years into this phenomenon, I still manage to occasionally lose sight and direction in the...

From Counselors

Articles by PAL and Partner Counselors
Crisis = Opportunity = Transformation

Crisis = Opportunity = Transformation

            With the new year upon us, tradition seems to suggest we look at things we would like to change in our lives. Although we certainly do not need to wait for a new year, if that is motivation, let’s seize it. For those who have...

“Why Me?”

“Why Me?”

                Dr. Don Middleton (excerpt from Chapter 2 of The Dunamis Effect: When Your Higher Power is Jesus) Whenever we are faced with difficulty, whether it is the end of an important relationship, an unexpected or...

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