Before coming to reality about their own or someone
else's lcoholism or other drug abuse, teens have found their lives and that of their
family and friends unmanageable. They could not not live and enjoy life as other people
do. We had to have something different and thought they had found it in drugs or in
abusive relationships at home or in school. We placed substance abuse or not dealing in a
healthy way with addicted people ahead of our own welfare or that of our families, our
school work, our values, our own feelings of self-worth or pain we were afraid to feel or
our need to have open, honest, loving relationships in the past, present and future. We
had to have drugs at all costs or feel a false sense of power in taking care of or living
in shame about someone else's drug abuse or alcoholism and disrespectful behavior. We
did many people harm, but most of all we harmed ourselves. Through our inability and fear
to accept personal responsibilities, we were actually creating our own problems. We seemed
to be incapable of facing life on its own terms.
Most of us realized that in our addiction to drugs and alcohol or to those who abuse
them, we were slowly committing suicide, but addiction is such a cunning enemy of life
that we had lost the power to do anything about it. Many of us ended up in jevenile
detention or jail, or lived with continually painful, injust, abusive and frightening
situations with our friends or within our families or sought help through medicine,
religion and psychiatry. None of these methods, by themselves alone, was sufficient for
us. Our disease of addiction or co-dependency always resurfaced or continued to progress
until in desperation, we sought help from each other in 12-Step recovery, based on the
program created 60 years ago originally for Alcoholics Anonymous.
After coming to AA, NA, CA, Alateen, Nar-Anon we realized we were hurting people with a
disease that was physical, behavioral, spiritual. We suffered from a disease from which
there can be a hopeful, joyful recovery if we admit that we are powerless by ourselves,
turn our will over to a Higher Power, which many of us call God, take a continual and
really good look at our values and behavior, get experience, strength and hope from other
teens who have gone through what we have, admit our wrongs to ourselves and to God and to
other teens, stay clean and sober or detach emotionally with love from those who aren't
and give away to others what good we learn and hope we find.
Teen-Anon is a behavioral and spiritual program that is just beginning, just for teens
12-19, supervised by caring, experienced, recovering adults. But it is based on a 12-step
program that has worked better than anything else for millions of others.
If there is not yet a Teen-Anon group where you live, we recommend you talk to your
school counselor about local alternatives or suggest they, your nearby childrens hospital,
house of worship or youth group gets in touch with us and starts one.
Meanwhile, check out our
