:fb: Love to hear about the families who have loved ones incarcerated for Substance Abuse/Drugs/Alcohol and the support the families need and if they attend Alanon.

My boyfriend is incarcerated because of substance abuse. I totally believe that families need counseling of some sort-whether it be alanon, church group, PTO :)
I have not attended alanon as of yet. I have researched and researched drug abuse, drug addiction, heroin, methadone, everything I could get my hands on. I think I have a much better understanding then what I once did.
My boyfriend took two drug classes in prison, and is currently taking a violent offenders class which also deals with substance abuse.
Families need support just like the addict does. We go through hell cuz we have to watch what our loved ones are doing to themselves, knowing that there is not one thing that we can really do to help them. Once my guy gets out, I am going to look into substance abuse support groups that the two of us can attend together.
Did I answer your question azcounselor? There is so much more to be said, and hopefully someone else will come along and put in their two cents! :)

Well, attending together often isn't as healthy and helpful as attending separately. It's a very codependent thing to do everything together in recovery. Each needs to learn to do their programs separately because they're two separate people. Attending together now and then doesn't hurt, but it's way more helpful to have separate attendance most of the time.

I am married to an alcoholic, and have been in Alanon for four years. I was introduced to the prison system in March when my daughter met an inmate. They married in August, and I am very proud to have him as my son-in-law. The icing on the cake was finding PTO!