Weekly PAL meetings are now in San Diego!
You are not
Parents with an adult child dealing with substance use disorder involving either drugs or alcohol find hope and support through Parents of Addicted Loved Ones (PAL). Meetings are available all over the country, and lives are being changed every day. It’s not an easy journey, but you don’t have to go at it alone.
Our weekly meetings are held at ASerenity Skin | Body in Point Loma, near Point Loma High School. 3653 Voltaire Street. The meeting starts at 6:00pm and run for approximately 90 minutes. We will discuss an educational topic and then attendees will have a chance to share. We look forward to meeting you. If you have any questions, please feel free to text, call or email me:
What does PAL do?
PAL’s free weekly meetings follow evidence-based practices and the curriculum used is designed specifically for parents by professionals in the treatment and recovery industry.
Each meeting includes two important parts:
1. An educational component that offers tools for participants to use such as ways to help rather than enable.
2. A support component where participants interact, sharing what has worked – and has not worked – for them in their community.
Not only is the physical and emotional health of parents improved, but in many cases their adult loved one reduces or stops their misuse of substances.
What Makes PAL Different From Similar Groups?
There are many worthwhile free resources for families of those struggling with substance use disorder. What makes PAL unique is the evidence-based practices and the peer-to-peer support, where participants are encouraged to share their experiences with each other. PAL has been featured in stories across the country in outlets such as TIME, Money magazine and national radio and TV networks, as well as in other countries ranging from Israel to Japan, Germany and Spain.
About PAL meetings
PAL is a support group for parents and other family members who have a loved one dealing with a substance use disorder (SUD).
Weekly meetings offer addiction education and support at no charge for parents and other family members who are trying to support a loved one through an addiction.
A few things we want you to know:
- We welcome your point of view.
- We will be supportive of you whether you choose to do what is suggested or not.
- Meeting facilitators are parent volunteers, not counselors. Every suggestion and point of view you hear will reflect that person’s experience, not necessarily the opinions of PAL as a whole.
- What you hear in meetings, and what you say in meetings, should remain confidential.
- All PAL attendees must be 18 or older.
- PAL is a support group of parents helping parents. Therefore, it is not a place for you to bring your addicted loved one.
You are not alone!
To have a child lost to alcohol or drug addiction is to suffer a thousand deaths. The more you try to save them from their addiction the more it burns a hole in your heart. Watching their light fall away into darkness, you enter your own world of pain. But while you may feel stranded by fear and confusion, you are not alone.
“PAL brought back hope, sanity and purpose in our lives. We have learned to live again. We are thankful for what we have learned and for all of the parents who have stood with us. Today, we feel blessed to stand with others as they venture down this road that no one would ask for.”
– anonymous PAL dad
We’ve been there.
PAL is a nonprofit that provides hope through education and support to parents of adults dealing with substance use disorder.
The free weekly meetings follow evidence-based practices, and the curriculum used is designed specifically for parents by professionals in the treatment and recovery industry. Each session includes:
- An educational component that offers tools for parents to use when to trying to save a son or daughter from addiction, including ways to help them in a healthy way rather than enable their addiction.
- A time for parents to interact, sharing what has worked – and has not worked – for them in their community.
Not only is the physical and emotional health of parents improved, but in many cases their adult addicted loved one is led to seek recovery. Researchers from Northern Arizona University have studied PAL and determined that after participating in the PAL program:
- Parents’ wellbeing improved.
- Parents decreased their tendency to engage in enabling and co-dependency behaviors.
- PAL participants’ addicted loved ones were less likely to misuse substances.
“Twelve years of heavy drug use had left me a shell of a person. In the early years, my parents enabled me. They indirectly supported my addiction by providing me with financial means and a place to stay. They fruitlessly tried to plead with me, rescue me, and place me in situations where they thought I’d get help. I can look back and see that the beginning of the end was when they got involved with PAL. When they not only learned how to help me – but actively implemented those strategies into our relationship, and most importantly, when they stuck with it, even when they didn’t want to.
– Sean, in long-term recovery
PAL provides hope, through education and support, to parents of addicted loved ones.
Make PAL meetings available to all parents of addicted loved ones.
We meet every Wednesday at 6:00 pm. We would love to see you there.
