One of Loving An Alcoholic’s missions is to provide our readers resources to help cope with the disease of addiction, whether it is the alcoholic/addict or the family member/loved one of the alcoholic/addict.

A new site, The Recovery Self Help Project, was recently brought to my attention by a reader of Loving An Alcoholic. The site has a wiki-style format and looks like it will develop into a great resource for those looking for information on alcoholism, addiction and the recovery process.
I’d encourage you to bookmark the site and check in from time to time as new articles are published monthly.

Excerpts from The Recovery Self Help Project main page and the article How to Stop Drinking:

Self Help Project main page:

Welcome to the Recovery Self Help Project

The project was launched in early 2009 to provide information for people seeking to understand alcohol abuse and begin the recovery process. Our goal is to add reviewed and approved articles at the rate of one a month.

Articles that are listed as completed have been edited by professional writers and editors and authored or reviewed by experts in the field of recovery education.

Articles that are listed as unfinished have not been reviewed or approved by the project’s editorial team.

How to Stop Drinking

This article, from the Recovery Self-Help Project, will help you find the best way to stop drinking. It reviews and compares various approaches to ending alcohol dependence and beginning an alcohol-free life.

Not every approach to stopping drinking works for everyone. Some people need their own unique approach (which may not be the most popular or well-known). And many studies have shown a combination of strategies is the most effective way to quit drinking. If you want to stop drinking, this article will help you decide which approach is right for you. We hope you’ll use what you learn here to take the next step to living free of alcohol problems.

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Send me your thoughts: support@lovinganalcoholic.com

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As I will leave each post; If you, or someone you know, loves an alcoholic or addict, I would encourage you to find a local Al-Anon 12 step meeting to attend. This is your first step towards healing.

From time to time I like to reach out and find different perspective on issues that I’ve discussed on Loving An Alcoholic.

I feel comfortable sharing my experiences as a loved one of an alcoholic who has coped with the effects of alcoholism in my family – what I can’t speak to is the alcoholic or addict’s perception.

The following post comes from an article sharing site that I belong to.

It is written by Patrick Menins, a recovering addict and alcoholic who authors the Spiritual River website.

How can you best help a struggling addict or alcoholic? 

Gaining perspective from someone who has struggled with the disease is a start.

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How can you best help a struggling addict or alcoholic? There are a number of things that you can do.

First, help yourself. This is an important first step for you. Often times, we are in a close relationship with a struggling addict, and living through this tough situation will wear you down. So the first step is to get some help yourself. The best place to do this is at an Al-Anon meeting. The people there know exactly what you are going through and can give you “expert” advice on how to best deal with the struggling addict in your life.

Learn about addiction. This is a critical step in your journey if you are to help an addict to find recovery. Understanding the disease model of addiction will be helpful in dealing both with the addict, as well as to guide some of your own behavior towards them. A great place to learn about addiction and alcoholism is, again, at Al-anon meetings.

Setting boundaries and limits. Another important tool in helping a struggling addict or alcoholic is to set boundaries. This is important for both your sanity as well as their recovery. First, you have to decide what is and what is not acceptable behavior on their part. For example, if they go to jail for drunk driving, is that acceptable to you? If not, then tell them, and let them know how you will react. (”I will not bail you out of jail any more.”). Do not make idle threats here; state your meaning and think things through and be very specific. Let them know that you are going to live outside of their madness and chaos.

Organize a formal intervention. If things continue to get worse, and nothing seems to help, then you might consider organizing a formal intervention. This is basically where you round up all of the family and friends of the struggling addict and confront him as a group and urge them to take some action (such as quit using or go to treatment). The details of planning an intervention are outside the scope of this article, but there is help available if you decide to go this route.

Is there a struggling addict or alcoholic in your life that you care about?

If so, then learn more about how about how to help an addict

Patrick Meninga is a recovering addict and alcoholic who authors the Spiritual River website about overcoming addiction.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Patrick_Meninga

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Would you like to have your experience and words of encouragement posted?

Send me your thoughts: support@lovinganalcoholic.com

As I will leave each post; If you, or someone you know, loves an alcoholic or addict, I would encourage you to find a local Al-Anon 12 step meeting to attend. This is your first step towards healing.

The mission of Loving An Alcoholic is to provide hope, encouragement and resources to family members and those who love an alcoholic or addict.

As a reminder - you didn’t cause your loved one’s alcoholism or addiction, you can’t control it and you can’t cure it (the three C’s).

Finding and ultimately staying on the path of recovery is up to the alcoholic or addict in your life - and their Higher Power.

If an alcoholic is unwilling to get help, what can you do about it?

In today’s post, you will find some suggestions provided on the NIAAA (National Institute On Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism) of the National Institutes of Health.

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This can be a challenge. An alcoholic can’t be forced to get help except under certain circumstances, such as a traffic violation or arrest that results in court-ordered treatment. But you don’t have to wait for someone to “hit rock bottom” to act. Many alcoholism treatment specialists suggest the following steps to help an alcoholic get treatment:

Stop all “cover ups.” Family members often make excuses to others or try to protect the alcoholic from the results of his or her drinking. It is important to stop covering for the alcoholic so that he or she experiences the full consequences of drinking.

Time your intervention. The best time to talk to the drinker is shortly after an alcohol-related problem has occurred–like a serious family argument or an accident. Choose a time when he or she is sober, both of you are fairly calm, and you have a chance to talk in private.

Be specific. Tell the family member that you are worried about his or her drinking. Use examples of the ways in which the drinking has caused problems, including the most recent incident.

State the results. Explain to the drinker what you will do if he or she doesn’t go for help–not to punish the drinker, but to protect yourself from his or her problems. What you say may range from refusing to go with the person to any social activity where alcohol will be served, to moving out of the house. Do not make any threats you are not prepared to carry out.

Get help. Gather information in advance about treatment options in your community. If the person is willing to get help, call immediately for an appointment with a treatment counselor. Offer to go with the family member on the first visit to a treatment program and/or an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Call on a friend. If the family member still refuses to get help, ask a friend to talk with him or her using the steps just described. A friend who is a recovering alcoholic may be particularly persuasive, but any person who is caring and nonjudgmental may help. The intervention of more than one person, more than one time, is often necessary to coax an alcoholic to seek help.

Find strength in numbers. With the help of a health care professional, some families join with other relatives and friends to confront an alcoholic as a group. This approach should only be tried under the guidance of a health care professional who is experienced in this kind of group intervention.

Get support. It is important to remember that you are not alone. Support groups offered in most communities include Al-Anon, which holds regular meetings for spouses and other significant adults in an alcoholic’s life, and Alateen, which is geared to children of alcoholics. These groups help family members understand that they are not responsible for an alcoholic’s drinking and that they need to take steps to take care of themselves, regardless of whether the alcoholic family member chooses to get help.

You can call the National Drug and Alcohol Treatment Referral Routing Service (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment) at 1-800-662-HELP (4357) for information about treatment programs in your local community and to speak to someone about an alcohol problem.

Link to NIAAA http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/FAQs/General-English/default.htm#disease

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Would you like to have your experience and words of encouragement posted?

Send me your thoughts: support@lovinganalcoholic.com

As I will leave each post; If you, or someone you know, loves an alcoholic or addict, I would encourage you to find a local Al-Anon 12 step meeting to attend. This is your first step towards healing.