How do you care for an alcoholic parent?
Danielle Jones is a freelance journalist and editor from Hampshire with bylines for Time Out, Metro and VisitEngland. A mum to two girls, she specialises in travel, culture and lifestyle writing.
Danielle had a happy family life until her mum’s relationship with alcohol started to affect her family. What started as a normal – if more colourful than some – upbringing, became a problem with alcohol, and by her mid-teens Danielle found herself looking after her mum as well as herself.
Danielle tells me about her mum’s frustration with motherhood, and how she struggled with the limitations placed on her as her young family grew up. She also describes how becoming her mum’s carer impacted on her own life – on her studies, and on her own mental health.
Danielle talks about how she got past her own struggles and began to focus on her own life and wellbeing, to become a successful journalist, and now a mother herself. She has some fabulous insight into how everyone is struggling with something – no one has the perfect life you imagine they do – and some fantastic advice for anyone who is struggling to get a foot in the door of their career ambition. I love her take on life!
For anyone who is faced with a parent’s relationship with alcohol, or in fact with having to become their parent’s carer, there are some websites where you will find support and advice:
- The NHS is always the first point of call, and has some good signposting for children who become carers for any reason
- Al-Anon – the support organisation for families of alcoholics – has a section specifically for teenagers
- Adfam provides information for the families of drug-users and alcoholics
- Action for Children provides support for children who are young carers
You can find Danielle on Instagram at @TinyTripping.
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Thank you so much for listening! Subscribe now to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear all my new episodes. I’ll be talking to some fabulous guests about difficult things that happened to them as teenagers – including losing a parent, becoming disabled, and being hospitalised with mental health problems – and how they overcame things to move on with their lives.
And if you’re stuck for how to engage with your teenager, this list of things for teens to do might be helpful.