Help and support - Children of Alcoholics Week 2010 14-20 February
Alcoholism is an illness. People who have the illness have lost control over their drinking and are not able to stop without help.
Coping with someone else’s drinking can be difficult. It is important to take care of yourself. Try talking about how you feel with someone you trust . Sharing your feelings is not being disloyal to your family but it can help you to feel less alone. There are many people and places that can help, a few of which are listed below.
You are not alone.
The National Association for Children of Alcoholics (Nacoa)
Nacoa provide support, information and advice to children of alcohol-dependent parents and others concerned with their welfare.
Helpline: 0800 358 3456
Email: helpline@nacoa.org.uk
Website: www.nacoa.org.uk
Children of Addicted Parents and People
Website with online forums for young people affected by someone else’s addiction to share their thoughts and feelings with each other.
“I support the COA week as there are many thousands of young people living with parental alcoholism and addiction who feel frightened, alone and that it’s their fault. Together I hope we can reach out to these young people and let them know that there is support out there!”
Emma Spiegler
Founder of COAP
Author of ‘Missing Mummy, living in the shadow of an alcoholic parent’
The Al-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who provide support to anyone whose life is, or has been, affected by someone else’s drinking. In some areas there are also Alateen groups who support young people aged twelve to seventeen who are affected by a problem drinker.
Helpline: 020 7403 0888
Email: enquiries@al-anonuk.org.uk
Website: www.al-anonuk.org.uk
Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA)
Fellowship of women and men who grew up in alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional homes.
Phone: 07071 781899
Email: info@adultchildrenofalcoholics.co.uk
Website: www.adultchildrenofalcoholics.co.uk
DrugFAM provides support to families, carers and friends affected by substance abuse.
Helpline: 0845 388 3853
Website: www.drugfam.co.uk
“I wish Hilary and everyone involved in Children of Alcoholics Week 2010 every success in their vital and important endeavours to support children. Having spent the last 39 years working with children in my job as a teacher, I know how important it is for them to grow up in a family where their loved ones alcohol abuse does not destroy the heart and soul of a child. I have had so many letters from children who lives have been derailed that I cannot commend highly enough the work Nacoa is doing. Having lost my own son to drugs and alcohol, I cannot begin to imagine the pain some of these children go through. You offer a lifeline of hope for these children. Nacoa you are a true inspiration to society.”
Elizabeth Burton-Phillips
Founder of DrugFAM
The National Association for People Abused in Childhood
Napac provide support and information for people abused in childhood.
Helpline: 0800 085 3330
Website: www.napac.org.uk
“Children are greatly affected when their parents or carers are alcoholics. NAPAC has long been aware of this huge social problem and we are in awe of the amazing work that Nacoa does in supporting children of alcoholics. Children do not choose this life for themselves. It is imposed on them and alcohol abuse is a massive problem in our society. If we are really to care about our children then we must care for all of them and therefore we are delighted to support Nacoa and all it stands for.”
Peter Saunders
Founder and chief executive, The National Association for People Abused in Childhood
“We have been working from an ecological-systemic perspective with addicts and their families for over 25 years, and have found the work of Nacoa to be invaluable in the ongoing healing process for everyone involved. Those of us who grew up in alcoholic or other kinds of addictive systems often struggle with addiction, depression, anxiety, and serious work and relationship problems. As “pack animals,” we humans are not biologically designed to manage these kinds of struggles alone. We need each other, and Nacoa helps to put that fact in the foreground where it belongs. Keep up the incredibly important work that you are all doing!”
John C. Friel and Linda D. Friel
Licensed Psychologists in private practice and New York Times Best-selling authors of 8 recovery/self-help books
“The Renewal Centre is a vision borne of a family with children profoundly traumatised by alcoholism. It is dedicated to the pioneering provision of specialised therapy for those affected by alcoholism / addiction, in particular for family therapy – a much neglected and unrecognised need in the UK – and is delighted to be part of Children of Alcoholics Week. Nacoa’s helpline will continue to be a valued lifeline for any child of any age in need and awareness will be heightened in time to come as this facility becomes increasingly statistically important.”
Sally Miller
Founder of The Renewal Centre
“Society recognizes the need to send an ambulance to the overturned vehicle in the middle of the road. We strap the alcoholic to the gurney and rush, sirens blasting, to the hospital…leaving the wrecked vehicle full of bruised family members, some of them children, staring through the windows at the help that seems to arrive but then goes away.
Nacoa has the right idea. Their focus is working with the children and the families who are most often left behind. To call their work important is an understatement. Their work is a necessity.”
Don Lavender B.A., MDiv
Psychotherapist and programme director of the Camino Recovery Centre
For more resources see the links page on Nacoa’s website
