Seeing your son in a struggle with alcohol and drug addiction is a parental nightmare. A little more than a year ago it was obvious to my wife and I that our son Brett was now more than a casual user. His health and well being were being compromised. This was the start of our family’s awakening to the at-home realities of alcohol and drug addiction.
The inability to fix Brett’s disease was our darkest hour. Our emotional struggle with his recidivism during an out patient drug and alcohol program was the most difficult lesson. My early concerns that he would never be a social drinker were overshadowed with his increasing odds of becoming a heroin overdose fatality. Our family was no longer dealing with a short term adjustment and quick out patient turnaround but a battle to understand addiction.
We took took the first step forward and slowly realized that we were truly powerless over our son’s drug use.
July 27, 2015 was Brett’s first year of sobriety and we’re proud to see a new, positive persona. We hope never to go back to looking in the eyes of our son and see nothing but self-inflicted, drug induced, emptiness. The all-encompassing structure at New Life House now gives him powerful tools that tilt the odds in his favor to maintain hard-fought sobriety.
Accountability and service are important tools that we all taught our children and are reaffirmed through the program. We agree the knowledge and success in restraining and managing their addictions provides a proven roadmap for helping others. This also solidifies their sobriety through giving back. We’re hopeful their positive connections with family, friends and peers will be the support for turbulent times that we all experience.
We’re better now after the first year of Brett’s sobriety. We look forward to his and the many other fine young men we now know from the house. As parents we all struggled with our son’s early life alcohol and drug abuse. Now through their own perseverance and commitment to sobriety, we sleep better.
– Brad M., New Life House Father
Last Updated on May 24, 2022
