An empowering, practical guide to help the brothers and sisters of alcoholics-by a journalist and sibling of two alcoholics, and an addiction specialist

Added stress and anxiety caused by the coronavirus pandemic can further strain families already navigating a loved one's addiction. Recovery and healing family ties is possible if you seek these things together. With histories, personal stories, and the latest research, this book helps readers chart their way out of addiction and back to the fullness of family by using principles that restore the "we" of lasting, loving relationships What happens to the "we" of a family when one member opts for the blind and single-minded "me" of addiction? In an instructive, reassuring way, Craig Nakken explains just how families and couples who have spent years building a life together can lose their cohesive identity and meaning in the wake of addiction. The perfect starting point in the healing process, this book Reclaim Your Family From Addiction-also reminds us that recovery is possible--for individuals, couples, and whole families--if only we know what to do. With histories, personal stories, and the latest research, the book helps readers chart their own way out of the hell of addiction and back to the fullness of family by using principles that restore the "we" of lasting, loving relationships. Craig Nakken, M.S.W., author of The Addictive Personality and Men's Issues in Recovery, lectures, trains, and specializes as a family therapist in the treatment of addiction. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Have you ever thought that you had an itch that only alcohol could scratch? The Sober Sisters have a suggestion. Just be itchy, b*tch. As we say in the hilariously raw, honest, and groundbreaking book (think bite-sized social media-type posts), Don’t Drink Like My Sister, we’ll addict the sh*t out of anything. If you’re looking to Woman Up, Level Up, and Sober Up in a completely innovative way, open this book. We’re positive you won’t regret it. Get to know the real-life OG Sober Sisters through their ups and downs from drinking as tweens in Maryland to navigating “Mommy Wine Culture” as forty-something single moms in both California and North Carolina. Sometimes we don’t hide the cracks in our double lives as well as we think. Especially in a blackout. Hang on tight for the ride of your life. And always remember...keep it simple today. Tammie and Nicole

Nearly every child will be offered drugs or alcohol before graduating high school. The good news is that a child who gets to age twenty-one without smoking, using drugs, or abusing alcohol is virtually certain never to do so ... and informed parents have the power to influence their kids to choose not to use. This give parents a realistic picture of the world their teens confront and the tools to help them get through adolescence healthy and drug free. Based on research at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, this book answers the daunting questions parents across the country have repeatedly asked.

While laying in an empty bathtub in a Motel 6 in Vermont, Mike takes a handful of OxyContin and waits for the heart palpitations to kill him. As he starts to fade he reads a text on his phone, "Son, I love you and I need to know that you're OK." Struggling to understand why anyone would care about him because of his years of drug abuse, he responds, "Mom, no one can help me." Then, in a moment of clarity, he decides he wants there to be a tomorrow and to be a part of his family again. He makes the call for help to his mother; the call that saves his life. S.O.B.E.R.*, an acronym for "Son Of a Bitch Everything's Real" describes the moment Anita Devlin and her son Mike realize that denying his addiction to pain pills is destroying him. It is the defining moment when they commit to the courageous fight to get their lives back. This is when their family's road to recovery begins. S.O.B.E.R.* offers a rare glimpse at the daily, all consuming relationship between family and addiction, told simultaneously from a mother's view and an addict's perspective. Everyone thinks Mike has it all because he is a star varsity lacrosse player, does well in school and is popular with the girls. However, Mike feels completely alone on the inside. When sports related surgeries introduce him to the world of pain pills, he uses them to mask his insecurities and spirals downward. Once in treatment, he learns that drugs are the least of his problems. The real problem is his mind. The drugs aren't making his demons disappear, they are only masking them and burying them down deeper. Mike is confident that he can be sober but he is not convinced that he can be sober and happy. Anita thinks that being a mother gives her the right to negotiate with God for her child. She sits in church and pleads, "God, I don't care what happens to me, please just take care of my son." She lets go of everything that makes her strong until she has nothing to hold on to but fear. She is afraid of what will happen if she focuses on anything but her son. This is an addiction itself. Anita becomes sick physically and spiritually. She is ashamed that she is afraid of what people will think instead of helping her only son, and she is faced with yet another hurdle... a confrontation with the truth that she herself needs to get healthy and learn to let go. We are allowed a glimpse into the family's recovery through powerful "cost" letters including one from Mike's sister and from the innocent voice of the family dog. Despite an avalanche of life's misfortunes, nothing else matters as long as they don't lose Mike. Anita, her husband Michael and their daughter Alex join forces with the Caron Treatment Center where "the patient is the family, and the family is the patient." "Addiction is an octopus" says Anita, "Whose tentacles wrap tightly around us all choking the life out of everyone in its way. The whole family needs to recover together."

Most books on recovery from addiction focus either on the addict or the family. While most alcoholics and addicts coming out of treatment have a recovery plan, families are often left to figure things out for themselves. The author takes a fresh approach to the recovery process by making family members and friends part of the reecovery team, beginning in the early stages of sobriety.

Have you ever thought that you had an itch that only alcohol could scratch? The Sober Sisters have a suggestion. Just be itchy, b*tch. As we say in the hilariously raw, honest, and groundbreaking book (think bite-sized social media-type posts), Don't Drink Like My Sister, we'll addict the sh*t out of anything. If you're looking to Woman Up, Level Up, and Sober Up in a completely innovative way, open this book. We're positive you won't regret it. Get to know the real-life OG Sober Sisters through their ups and downs from drinking as tweens in Maryland to navigating "Mommy Wine Culture" as forty-something single moms in both California and North Carolina. Sometimes we don't hide the cracks in our double lives as well as we think. Especially in a blackout. Hang on tight for the ride of your life. And always remember...keep it simple today. Tammie and Nicole