Jan 29, 2014 3 min read

Depressed, feeling desperate or inadequate without hope for a better life. A good time is what I need. My friends are drinking and doing drugs and I’m curious about how I’ll feel. I’m not like other people, I can stop whenever I choose. Seemingly simple excuses, but serious and possibly life-threatening. Drugs or alcohol or a mix of both can be damaging and so often lead to addiction, a knowingly powerful disease.

We hear about the misuse of drugs or alcohol every day, it seems. Many believe out of control use only happens to others and won’t be a problem for them. Before long, substance abuse can have a profound impact on parents and the family structure.

Drugs are readily available to men and women as well as boys and girls. Warning signs get ignored.

Excuses come easy for parents when their kids get in trouble at school or at work and often warning signs just slip through the cracks. Parents want to believe that self-destructive behaviors are just a phase. Everything will be fine. Their children have everything they should want with a loving family and a beautiful home. If only that were true.

Unfortunately, there are many in our local neighborhoods who are suffering due to substance abuse in the family circle. Parents often agonize over their need to be educated about addiction, its treatment and recovery.

Five moms residing in the South Hills are healing and together they hope to help others deal with addiction in their homes. They chose to open up about the deceit and dishonesty that drugs have caused in their children and how important it has been to heal themselves and to believe that they were not the cause of the addiction.

Each mom began by ignoring changes in their child as they were growing up, difficult years in today’s world. Each mother suffered a state of denial. Often alone, they refrained from confiding in even close family members, embarrassed to not be able to handle the seriousness of addiction.

“We had to believe that no matter how vigilant we were and how filled with pain, our children or any addict needs to choose to recover,” these moms agreed.

As they searched for help in recovery for their sons and daughters and eventually for themselves, these loving mothers were fortunate to find one another at a support group called SOS. They were compelled to help other mothers who find themselves dragging rock bottom since discovering their children were abusing dangerous drugs, so easily accessible. Together they joined hands and shared their deeply personal accounts and experiences and have published a guide for others.

“Hope Never Lost,” authored by Karen Lindsay, is a collection of five mothers’ journeys through their child’s addiction. In each account, the mother shares how she eventually changed and how and when her child began to show signs of change.

They all agree that the support they received at SOS gave them back a life, leading them and their children to a renewed sense of hope.

Chapters are also written by therapists who facilitated their support group.

Parents who even remotely question their child’s behavior will find comfort in “Hope Never Lost.” Copies are available for purchase at www.createspace.com/4094113.

Moms can be reached by emailing hopeneverlost5@gmail.com.

EEN: Allegheny HealthChoices, Inc. reports in the Pittsburgh community alone, drug and alcohol overdose deaths surpass the victims of car accidents and homicides combined.