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SOS Friends and Families
--Set up to meet the needs of friends and
families of those who are or have been addicted.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SOS_Friends_and_Families
SOS Friends and Families is a welcome addiction to the SOS Family of
support.
It is held by some very caring people.
Celebrating Over 1 Year of Support
An Article from SOS Friends and Families
by Hope
For every one addict you will generally find at least 2 people who
love them and are affected by their addiction. Whether it is
their parents, spouses, friends, or children, finding places for
those loved ones to get support has been limited greatly, especially
for those looking for a secular support group, but now that's no
longer the case...
SOS Friends and Families On-Line Support Group has been up and
operating since July 12, 2005 and currently has 70 members.
Our backgrounds, hometowns and stories may all be different but one
thing is the same, we are in love with an addict.
I personally have a long history of addicts in my life. My
parents were alcoholics; both my brother and sister are alcoholics.
My ex-husband was a drug addict. I am a sober alcoholic who
has been sober for 15+ yrs, and am currently fighting a food
addiction.
My personal situation with my siblings is, I can count my parents,
myself, my children, their children, our younger brother and their
spouses as people that are affected by their drinking. That is
15 people affected by the actions of the both of them. That is
not
including employers, and/or friends. So the need for a group
such as this is there, but so much of the time we are the forgotten
victims of their addiction. We hear about hangovers,
blackouts, vomiting everywhere, etc.., but who do you think brings
the aspirin, fills in the blanks of the blackouts, and cleans up the
mess? Who makes excuses to friends, family or employers about
why they may be late or why they will be unable to show up at all?
Not to mention spouses that try to keep things from upsetting them
during the time they are using or children who have learned the
signs that mommy or daddy is "sick" so they can stay out of their
way?
Let's not forget the 2 AM phone calls, the begging for money and the
need for help that we constantly hear. Who do we turn to?
Who listens when we are at the end of our ropes, or when we feel
like failures?
The members at SOS Friends and Family listen. Every member
here has had their lives greatly affected by the addictive behavior
of a loved one and they need support, advice, understanding, the
opportunity to share and learn. They need a safe place to do
it, no
matter what their spiritual believes are. We do follow the
mission of SOS in that we are secular in nature and hold religion
and spirituality as separate issues from our recovery, and the
recovery of our loved ones. This particular SOS group was
created to provide an alternative to other programs which are
spiritually or religiously based, for the loved ones of the addict.
So much of the time someone dealing with a "high" friend or drunk
spouse is too ashamed to look for someone to talk to. They are
convinced nobody will understand why we can't just turn our backs on
our loved ones. So, much of the time that makes it harder for
us to deal with the problems in our world, not to mention in our
minds, hearts and souls.
Hopefully this group will fill the needs of those people and help to
get them thru another day......
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SOS_Friends_and_Families
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