Testimonials

PAL Testimonials

“Your meetings are extremely helpful. For the first time in almost 20 years, I feel I am beginning to heal.” -J.B.

“My husband and I were desperate for help, but also very apprehensive about talking to strangers about our son and his addiction. We soon learned this group was not going to tell us how to get our son to stop using, but how we could go on living our lives. We can’t possibly tell you everything we learned in just a few words, but we can say that we are so thankful we took that step, and will be forever grateful for PAL. We found so much love and compassion from others going through a similar situation, and often times even worse than our own. We encourage others who are hurting to take this first step and go to PAL”.  -C.C.

“We really enjoyed going to your parent group and learned many things about addiction and how to understand and relate to our daughter. I’m happy to say that she will be celebrating two years of recovery in August and remains very active with her meetings and the program. One of her goals is to help others and to be an inspiration to them. To that end, she has started two 12-step women’s groups. One is at a local fellowship and one at the re-hab Center she spent four months at. We are extremely proud of her and have a good feeling about the future. We are very grateful for the support we got from you and the others and will certainly recommend your program to anyone that we find out needs such a support group”.  -P.K.

“My husband and I saw two counselors when we became aware our daughter was using illegal drugs. We were so disappointed both times that we chose not to go back due to the narrow view we felt they each had. PAL was completely different and was exactly what we needed-education, hope, support, encouragement. We learned healthy ways to help and communicate and most importantly to turn the responsibility for the problem over to God and our child. I praise God that our daughter has now been clean and sober for over a year. We were so impressed by the lessons and help we received we share the information as often as we can with others. I encourage anyone with a loved one who is using drugs or alcohol to give PAL a try.”  -E.M.

“As a Mom of two young adults in recovery (one by choice, one by incarceration), I whole heartedly recommend PAL to any parent or partner with a loved one(s) suffering from addiction. I was a broken person, I was so weary from worrying, my spirit crushed from seeing the pain my children were living though and the mess they were making of their lives. PAL taught me the tools to apply healthy boundaries toward my adult children while I was regaining my own voice, which was lost as I allowed their addictions to take over MY emotional well being. Through lessons learned at PAL, I realized my motherly “helping” was not helping my children at all, my thinking needed to be adjusted to find peace and a healthy outlook while living through that chapter of my life. I learned that dealing with someone’s addiction is like a battlefield, filled with hidden mines waiting to be set off, PAL helped me maneuver my way through the most difficult time of my life.” -C.M.

“I just wanted you to know how helpful the PAL’s meeting was last Thursday night. The next day I woke up feeling like the sun was shining again. You gave us some tools and ideas on what to look for and how to act and not re-act. Thank you so much for also explaining to us different ways to cope with our daughter. Please put this small note on your web site because I want other parents to have some hope like we do. I want to keep coming to the PAL’s meetings and keep learning new ways to deal with our daughter’s addiction. I wish we didn’t belong to this club but a lot of us do. It doesn’t make life fun some days but we really don’t have any other choice but to deal with it and try to show our addicted loved ones that there is a way to live a happier life without their addiction. Thanks again for the support we felt and you did give us hope when we felt like there was no hope left.” -J.P.

“I can’t thank the group leaders enough for their insight and knowledge. They have managed to bring me peace of mind by teaching me how to interact with my addicted loved one.  Since my behavior has changed, my loved one’s behavior has improved. There is hope. I encourage anyone who is frustrated or ashamed to please come to a group of wonderful support.” -N.C.

“I am excited to share that my daughter has been sober almost 10 months, was at Calvary twice, then spent 4 months at Decision Point in Prescott. She then spent 5 months at Mandalay sober living home and just moved into an apartment a few weeks ago. She has completed all her steps, she brings NA meetings into Banner detox and the Aurora center, as well as serving as Treasurer for her home NA group. I remember how hopeless I was a year ago! I am grateful for your meetings which taught me to let go -which brought me peace and personal healing.  I am coming back to the Thursday night meeting and hoping the parents I attended with have had similar success. If not, I hope I can share and bring them some hope! Thanks for all you do to bring us parents hope, real direction, and healing.” -S.H.

“I started attending PALS in August of 2010, as a result of my son’s heroin addict. Through PAL I was able to learn more about addiction, and develop healthy methods to deal with my son’s addiction and support him through recovery. By listening to other parent’s stories and struggles, I learned I was not alone in this journey of addiction. Slowly it allowed me to heal and to have hope again for my son’s recovery. My son is currently about 120 days clean.”  -M.M.

“I was embarrassed and very sad the first time I went to a meeting. I couldn’t comprehend how “I” somehow let my wonderful straight A, athletic son become a pot-smoker who was arrested twice by police at age 16 for marijuana possession. I thought it had to be my fault. I was so relieved to hear other people going through the same thing, many even seemed worse. I was given very useful information and action oriented planning for dealing with my situation at the very first meeting. The facilitator was a tremendous support, showing me how my son’s actions were not my fault, nor a reflection of my parenting skills. I am very grateful for this program, and can’t wait until it begins at my home church so I can attend more often.”  -H.J.

“I felt so alone when I discovered my son had a problem with drug addiction. The PAL group helped me not feel so alone. They understood the pain. They affirmed me that I was not a bad parent or at fault for my sons addiction. They gave me strength to do the tough things. Through that, my son is doing well. We continue to attend every once and a while to offer help and hope for their loved ones. Thanks Mike, for starting PAL.”  -B.K.

“It’s been almost a year since my son graduated rehab and IOP. I’m thrilled to say he’s still clean and sober, working at a full time job, going to meetings and sponsoring other recovering addicts. The PAL meetings were invaluable in my own recovery process with forgiveness and in moving forward with my son in our relationship.”  -J.D.

“My mom and I started coming to the PAL group in the fall of 2010. We were dealing with my dad who is an alcoholic. It was an extremely trying time. And, with no one who had any idea of what we were going through to talk to, we kept everything to ourselves. At first, I was hesitant. But, after that first meeting with the group, for the first time in 6 months I felt that there was hope. Not only for my mom and myself to be ok, but also I now had something that I could do to help my dad. I continued to go, week after week, and I then became ready to be able to sit and talk to my dad after he got sober. Although the fear of my dad relapsing is still a possibility, I can honestly say that no matter what happens in the future, I know how to deal with the situation and I know that in all things God is good and has a plan. Thank you to the group, you gave me the strength I needed.”  -B.B.

“When faced with our son’s addiction, my wife and I began trying hard to control the situation and “save” our son from his choices. We found this to be very frustrating, creating great anger, and bringing a high level of chaos into our family and home. When we discovered PAL and began attending, we found the information and support that helped us to change ourselves. To deal with our own lives, our marriage and our other family members in healthy ways. As it turns out, this is the very best thing we can do for our son. It takes a lot of retraining to understand how to love and to help an addict… our PAL group has really helped us in dramatic ways.”  -S.M.

“Today, I can share my experience, strength, and hope with parents going through the same thing I am. It took me awhile to be able to see the light and have hope along with other people. At first, my desire was to cure and rescue my son. Through PAL, I finally realized that I couldn’t fix him, and I learned to take better care of myself. Today, I have more trust and I am free from my anxiety to make my son happy.”  -G.P.

“Sounds odd I know, but I love that group!” -E.V.