If you walk down the streets of Vernon you will probably see an alcoholic or drug addict. Every one of those addicted people has a family member or a friend or a spouse who loves them.
I am part of a group called ”Victims of Addiction, Family Support Group” This is a group that partly helps family and friends deal with their loved ones who have addictions, but more than this, it’s a group that helps the family member or friend realize they need help themselves.
The addict is not the only one affected in drug addiction…..if their loved ones don’t know how to take care of themselves, they too can be destroyed. Only if they stay healthy, and strong, can they help the addict.
It is about detaching.
Our fearless leader, ok, not fearless, but our leader all the same (Tim), is teaching us how to do this. It does not mean you love your addict less. You must learn to love them differently. It can mean survival for both of you.
I absolutely recommend support groups to anyone going through trials in their lives. We started off as a bunch of strangers, with one thing in common, we love an addict. Even though we have family and friends who would go to the ends of the earth for us, only our group can truly understand what we are battling daily.
This group is my battery charge that gets me through the next two weeks in one piece.
If you need someone to talk to, just need to listen to a familiar story that isn’t your own, don’t want to feel alone, then please come to the next meeting of Victims of Addiction, which meets every second Thursday of the month at the People Place.
Trust me, we have all looked around our room at one point and thought “I don’t belong here. This can’t be my life….”
But once you put that thought away, you will realize your loved one didn’t wake up one day and decide to be an addict either. It is what it is. You can learn from us, and we can learn from you.
There are no rules here, and no guidelines, there’s plenty of love, understanding, and believe it or not, we laugh with the best of them.
A. T.
Vernon