How to talk to your kids about a family member's addiction. The speaker explains addiction as a brain disease affecting physical, emotional, and mental health, and stresses that conversations need to fit each child's age. Families must balance honesty about the harm caused with allowing the recovering person to grow.
I think that one of the hardest things families have to do when they have a loved one who has had a substance abuse disorder and in recovery is to allow them to grow and to be and to flourish. One of the greatest tasks is to allow children the opportunity to learn what is a substance use disorder and how does that affect someone. So if you have young children, it's a different kind of conversation than if you have teens or young adults, but really allowing people to know that addiction is a brain disease and that brain disease affects every part of your being. It affects how you act physically, emotionally, mentally, and your value stance. And when someone has had a substance use disorder, they may have done things which have caused people to be in great upset.
