When Someone Else’s Alcohol or Drug Use Is Affecting Your Life

Did you grow up with a parent who drank or used drugs - or is a partner or family member's drinking or drug use affecting you now?

 

I specialise in offering support for adults affected by a parent's, partner's, or family member's alcohol or drug use - including those who grew up with it.

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If someone close to you - a parent, partner, or family member - drinks or uses drugs, it can leave a lasting mark, even years later. This might show up as anxiety, difficulty trusting, guilt that doesn't quite make sense, or a pattern of putting others' needs before your own.

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This may be right for you if you:

- Grew up with a parent who drank or used drugs

- Are currently affected by a partner or family member's drinking or drug use

- Struggle with guilt, boundary-setting, or feeling responsible for others

- Find yourself grieving someone who is still alive

- Have never quite felt able to talk about this before

 

Everyone's process is different, but clients often find that counselling helps them:

- Make sense of feelings that have never quite fit into words before

- Feel less burdened by guilt or responsibility for someone else's choices

- Build healthier boundaries in relationships, without losing connection

- Feel less alone with an experience that can be hard to talk about

- Begin to grieve, where grief has felt complicated or "not allowed"

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Before moving into private practice, I spent 8 years as senior therapist, manager and safeguarding lead for Change Grow Live (CGL), a national charity providing drug and alcohol treatment and support services, based in West Sussex - working within a specialist children, young person and families service supporting the impact of parental substance use. That work gave me a deep, first-hand understanding of how growing up around addiction, or loving someone who struggles with it, shapes people well into adulthood. I bring that specialist understanding into my adult practice today.

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Not sure where to start? I offer a free 15-minute call to talk it through.

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You might also find support from these organisations:

Adfam: https://adfam.org.uk

Nacoa: https://nacoa.org.uk​​