Coping with Teen Substance Abuse: A Parent's Guide

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Parenting a teenager can be challenging unto itself, but living with a teen who has a substance abuse problem often takes an emotional, mental, and physical toll on the entire family. With special care, extra patience, and coping strategies, parents can help teens who abuse drugs or alcohol to overcome their addictions.

1. Find support for the whole family. Because coping with a teenager’s substance abuse can be so draining, every member of the household will benefit from extra support.
   • Look for a teen treatment program that incorporates the family. Not only should the program include frequent parental contact and updates, but it should also include family counseling.
   • Lean on those who already care about the teen’s success. School guidance counselors, friends, family, and religious leaders are often-overlooked sources of support and guidance.
   • Join a support group, such as Al-Anon or Narc-Anon. These groups can be valuable assets to struggling parents. Ala Teen offers similar services for children and teens.
2. Educate the family about the condition and the treatment. Understanding the condition will empower parents to make wise and proactive choices about their child’s treatment and recovery.
   • Learn to recognize early signs of drug or alcohol abuse. This information will help friends and family to recognize the signs of use and abuse, and intervene as soon as possible.
   • Find out why the teen has turned to substance abuse in the first place. If these factors can be eliminated, the teen is often less likely to suffer a relapse.
   • Focus on developing coping skills. Every member of the family may have a different coping style, but having the skills to manage stress will allow the family to respond to situations with love and patience.
3. Recognize that recovery from substance abuse is not always linear. Relapses may occur, which does not necessarily mean that treatment has been ineffective. Provide an environment that supports the child’s recovery.
   • A teen who has participated in a residential program will need similar structure and rules at home. Create a set of household rules for the whole family, and stick to them.
   • Continue with outpatient treatment as long as necessary. One common reason for relapse is the sudden removal of all outside support.
   • Emphasize and model effective coping skills. Talk through stressful situations with the family.
   • Encourage the teen to build mentoring relationships with people like clergy members or guidance counselors. If the teen feels connected to adults at school and in the community, he or she is more likely to tell someone if tempted to abuse drugs or alcohol again.

Helping a family member, especially a teen, with a drug or alcohol abuse problem impacts the entire family. Thus, it is critical that everyone find outside support, seek out information about addiction, and participate in creating a home environment that will discourage relapses. These practices ensure that the teen and the whole family recover from the damage caused by substance abuse.