You are not

Parents with an adult child dealing with substance use disorder involving either drugs or alcohol find hope and support through Parents of Addicted Loved Ones (PAL). Meetings are available all over the country, and lives are being changed every day. It’s not an easy journey, but you don’t have to go at it alone.

Find a Meeting Power of Hope Conference

Find Hope.

Three parents.

Three journeys just like yours.

“Finding out that a loved one is using drugs or alcohol can be difficult. There can be a lot of lying and denial. Once you know for sure, the next question is: What now?“

– Michael Speakman, LISAC, Founder of PAL

Kevin B.

There have been times that my sons made me so proud and other times it was impossible for me to even pick out a birthday card for them because none of the cards fit the way I really felt.

Jack M.

We are parents of a 28-year-old son who struggles with alcohol abuse and mental illness that he was diagnosed with at a young age…

Claudia S.

The enabling lesson was most impactful in identifying how I was contributing to her addiction – the things I thought I was doing to “help” were making it easier for her addiction.

"PAL brought back hope, sanity and purpose in our lives. We have learned to live again. We are thankful for what we have learned and for all of the parents who have stood with us. Today, we feel blessed to stand with others as they venture down this road that no one would ask for.”

– Anonymous PAL Dad

You are not alone.

To have a child lost to alcohol or drug addiction is to suffer a thousand deaths. The more you try to save them from their addiction the more it burns a hole in your heart. Watching their light fall away into darkness, you enter your own world of pain. But while you may feel stranded by fear and confusion, you are not alone.

Find a Meeting

We’ve been there.

PAL is a nonprofit that provides hope through education and support to parents of adults dealing with substance use disorder.

The free weekly meetings follow evidence-based practices, and the curriculum used is designed specifically for parents by professionals in the treatment and recovery industry. Each session includes:

An educational component that offers tools for parents to use when to trying to save a son or daughter from addiction, including ways to help them in a healthy way rather than enable their addiction.
A time for parents to interact, sharing what has worked – and has not worked – for them in their community.

Not only is the physical and emotional health of parents improved, but in many cases their adult addicted loved one is led to seek recovery. Researchers from Northern Arizona University have studied PAL and determined that after participating in the PAL program:

Parents’ wellbeing improved.
Parents decreased their tendency to engage in enabling and co-dependency behaviors.
PAL participants’ addicted loved ones were less likely to misuse substances.

Find a Meeting

senior mother with adult son taking selfie at home

"Twelve years of heavy drug use had left me a shell of a person. In the early years, my parents enabled me. They indirectly supported my addiction by providing me with financial means and a place to stay. They fruitlessly tried to plead with me, rescue me, and place me in situations where they thought I’d get help. I can look back and see that the beginning of the end was when they got involved with PAL. When they not only learned how to help me – but actively implemented those strategies into our relationship, and most importantly, when they stuck with it, even when they didn’t want to.

PAL is one of the greatest blessings in my life.”

– Sean, in long-term recovery

Asking for assistance, optimism and survivor desperation to contact the world conceptual idea with a message in a glass bottle with a cork washing away on sandy beach with the ocean in the background

Hope Direct to Your Inbox

Sign up to receive hopeful insights and stories from PAL group members and leaders. You’re not in this alone. Keep that in mind always.

Sign Up

Hope, Help and Stories. Read On.

Our blog contains stories from the PAL monthly eNewsletter. We feature columns by parents like you, by counselors, and by people in recovery. They offer ongoing sources of information, insight, and hope.

Falling down is inevitable, staying there is not

Feb 1, 2024 | Someone In Recovery

The greatest achievements and accomplishments I’ve experienced have come at the cost of what felt like endless discomfort. Despite the insight I’ve gained over the years into this...

Finding a path to wholeness

Feb 1, 2024 | Parent Like You

We are a family of five, one girl and two boys. We recently welcomed two grandchildren. All three of our children did a good job toeing the line through high...

Letters from a decade in the future

Jan 1, 2024 | Someone In Recovery

Letters from a decade in the future You’ve been making mistakes and falling flat on your face for 12 years. You make the wrong choice in almost every circumstance and situation. You’ve...

Crisis = Opportunity = Transformation

Jan 1, 2024 | A Counselor

With the new year upon us, tradition seems to suggest we look at things we would like to change in our lives. Although we certainly do not need to wait for...