Affected by Addiction

Mount Mercy College, Model Farm Road, Co. Cork, 2014

CATEGORY: Make Our World a Better Place for Young People Challenge

The Idea

The project team discussed issues which affected teenagers, and felt well-informed about some issues but felt less knowledgeable about other topics. With regard to alcohol, the team felt that an emphasis was always placed on underage drinking, but there were a lot of people who were affected by addiction in other ways. They wanted to help these people by providing much needed information and support.

'What would you do if someone in your class was affected by alcoholism in their family?' sparked the project team’s campaign. They found that less than 10% of their peers would know what to do if a friend told them that their parent was an addict. The team then researched available support and were saddened by their findings.

In Cork, it was possible for adult alcoholics to avail of free counselling sessions or to attend Al-anon meetings. Sadly, the team discovered that there was no help available to teenagers dealing with an addict in the family. The team felt angered by this and decided something had to change. ‘We got angry, and then we got working.’

The Action

The team called on addiction experts to provide advice, and worked with a psychologist and counsellor to gain an understanding of how they could support young people. The team outlined a number of aims for their project. Firstly, they wanted to educate young people about addiction and how they could best deal with living with an addict. The team organised an Affected by Addiction conference at their school and invited experts and policy makers to a roundtable discussion. The team highlighted the fact that nothing was mentioned on the SPHE curriculum about living with a drinker, and so with the aid of the subject experts, developed an iTunes University course for schools.

The team also heard from two people who had been directly affected by addiction themselves. One girl spoke about how she felt disloyal when speaking out about her father’s alcohol addiction. The problem caused her to feel crippling guilt and betrayal and sometimes it was difficult for her to understand that she was telling on the addiction, not her father.

In this situation, information and advice would have greatly helped the girl involved and prevent the nagging feelings of fear and shame that she had felt. The project team knew that there was a genuine need for the resources that they were developing.

The team published a book of stories written by the adult children of alcoholics with the assistance of author Jody Lamb, blogger Rachel Finn, and the Rise Foundation. These stories provided support to those young people in need, and gave an insight to other people about the devastating knock-on effect that addiction can have on family members. The book allowed the children of alcoholics to use their experience to support others.

The Impact

The project team published its iTune course, addressing the gap in the SPHE curriculum. The Teens Affected by Addiction ebook became a top 20 Amazon bestseller. The team lobbied the Irish Government to provide more resources, gaining support from various politicians. The project has undoubtedly provided hope and support to many of those young people who have been affected by addiction.

Teenagers everywhere are told in school to “stop drinking” but some people don’t realise that lots of these teenagers don’t drink and are dealing with an alcoholic parent at home

Team Member

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