The second webinar in the four-part Parental Addiction series from Sesame Street in Communities, Healing Families Together, features a discussion with child and family therapist Jerry Moe, National Director of the Hazelden Betty Ford Children’s Program.
Moe offered insight into his work with families and discussed resources available from the Parental Addiction website to help families impacted by drug and alcohol addiction. Jerry shared the benefits of healing together as a family, offering suggestions on how therapists and other providers can use these tools in their own work with children and families.
“We call addiction a family disease, as it often hurts everyone in a family,” said Jerry Moe on the webinar. “But when it comes to children, they are often the first hurt and the last helped.”
One of the resources that was shared on the webcast was a Play, Talk, Imagine! storybook featuring Muppet Karli that can be used as a way to introduce sensitive topics with children.
Moe also discussed The Seven C’s which came out of the Al-Anon Twelve-Step program for families and are among the resources featured on the Parental Addiction page:
- I didn’t cause it.
- I can’t control it.
- I can’t cure it.
- I can help take care of myself.
- I can communicate.
- I can make healthy choices.
- I can celebrate!
Interactive activities that highlight The Seven C’s can also be downloaded to reinforce these messages with children. Jerry said that often the biggest gifts parents can give themselves and their families is to focus on their own health and to get well themselves.
When asked what the future may hold for those working on the front lines to help families facing addiction, Moe referenced the far-reaching impact of the pandemic on children and said that he anticipates families will need our help now more than ever. There are so many unknowns about school, sports and lack of social activity, and many are sheltering in place where substance use abusers may have relapsed and are facing economic insecurities.
We look forward to watching the next two webinars in this series. The September 30, Responding with Care, webinar will feature a discussion with Jac Charlier, National Director, Center for Health and Justice at the Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities, and Jessica Trimboli, an Investigator with the Okaloosa County Sherriff’s Office in Florida.
The October 28 webinar will feature a conversation about recovery with Jan Brown, Founding/Executive Director of SpiritWorks Foundation Center for Recovery of the Soul, a community recovery organization, and board chair for Faces and Voices of Recovery, a leading recovery advocacy and education group.
Register for both webinars here.
DisposeRx is proud to partner with SSIC through grant funding to bring this series to fruition.
