Family Resources for Professionals

There is Great Hope!

There was constant confrontation, arguments and stress. Every day, every hour, I walked on egg shells in my own home.

Life never goes exactly as planned.

I will begin by taking you to a moment in my life that I could never have imagined. On Saturday, March 15, 2014, my wife and I were at home watching Saturday Night Live and waiting for our youngest of five children to come home from a night out.

Suddenly, we heard a loud ruckus at the side door as our son stumbled into the house.

He was crying hysterically, trying to tell us something, something really important. But he was blithering and nearly incoherent.

Panicked, we said to him, “Stevie, what happened? What happened? Tell us what happened!!”

Slowly the details emerged.

He told us that he had just lain down on the local railroad track. He was ready to take his own life…

Finish First Story

These resources are used and promoted by Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, Caron Treatment Centers and other highly-respected treatment providers. They are free resources with no sponsors or economic interests to anyone.

User’s Guide for Treatment Providers

This user’s guide was created for professionals to use these short stories as unique and informative content to help educate and support clients and their families. It’s based on twelve gritty, relatable, and highly personal short stories about a teenager’s struggle with addiction, and the lessons learned by his father during his difficult journey supporting the recovery process. As Caron Treatment Centers and other providers found, this guide helps prompt important dialogue and insights and provides hope to clients and their families.

Download Guide

One-Pager for Client Families

This one-pager was created for professionals to share with clients and their families about these short stories. It highlights the most important things that families will learn such as hope, the science of addiction, parental tools to promote healthy behaviors, the recovery process – Stages of Change, and common traps such as lying, manipulating and playing parents off each other. The one-pager is meant to introduce the “Love the Kid, Hate the Disease” website to families and promote its use.

Download One-Pager

Incredibly powerful and valuable. Truly. You’ve captured so many realities and truths herein. It is likely to inform and empower parents and family members to make a difference and give them hope in tough times.

John F. Kelly, PhD., ABPP
Harvard Medical School’s first endowed professor of Addiction Medicine

I am an expert in addiction. I’ve been cited and given awards many times. But I had no idea what to do when my own sons became addicted. I wish I had had your short stories and I hope every parent reads this even before their kid develops a problem. On behalf of other parents and the Addiction field, thank you so much for putting this down so succinctly.

Thomas McLellan, PhD
Senior Editor for the 2016 US Surgeon General report on Facing Addiction, former Science Advisor and Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Life Achievement Awards – American and British Societies of Addiction Medicine.