The Broadway Lodge Family Programme has been a revelation to me. I never realised just what a chemical addiction can do and in fact has done. Alcohol is so freely available everywhere, is socially acceptable, can be enjoyable yet it has a dark side. If it gets its claws into you, it will get you and also take with it anyone who, however well meaning, tries to come along for the ride.
Before I went on the Family Programme I was hurt and angry after suffering in silence for many years. Listening to the speakers and joining in with the groups I felt different. Something triggered big, silent tears to roll down. I was crying because I realised that I could at last say out loud to people what was happening in my life without being judged, blamed or mocked. These people understood and this gave me a renewed feeling of peace and sense of self worth.
I think the Family Programme presented me with an affirmation - a facing up to. This came for me at just the right time as I had reached a point where I simply didn’t know where to turn.
In some ways the aftermath of the course has been very painful for me. This was inevitable, as it has made me face up to carefully hidden feelings. The subsequent few weeks have therefore been a roller coaster of emotions from feelings of despair when the problem still hasn’t gone away, to feelings of exhilaration when I think, “Yes there is a future without having to constantly feel responsible for somebody else’s excessive drinking”.
The Programme has taught me that I need to change and I can change. There can be a future and the balance can be redressed.
I have met some really lovely people and learned so much. I recommend the course unreservedly to any family member who finds that they need help as a result of living with somebody else’s addiction.