2.15 Helping Your Child Overcome Drug Addiction with Richard Capriola

Parenting is hard enough, but it is extremely difficult when your child gets involved in something that affects him/her negatively. With a two-decade career as a licensed chemical dependency counsellor, Richard Capriola shares his informative insight on a growing problem that parents should be concerned about for their children: substance abuse. Knowledge is power and Richard tells us of practical ways and resources that parents can use to help their children who are suffering from substance abuse or protect their children from becoming victims. Plus, we learn of his personal journey and triumph that led him to reach out to people and overcome their drug addictions.

This is a highly educational episode that will help prepare you for a situation that might seem very unlikely to happen, but that is actually more common today than you might think. It’s an episode you don’t want to miss!

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Episode Highlights

4:29 Introduction to our guest, Richard.

6:48 Richard’s journey and triumph.

10:33 A guide for parents who are struggling with a child suffering from addiction:

“Learn as much as you can and if you're placed in a situation where you discover your child is using a substance, you have the information; you have a resource like my book that will guide you through this journey.”

17:12 Why Richard sees his work as challenging yet rewarding at the same time.

18:19 Richard’s message to parents who have exhausted every possible resource to address their child’s addiction:

“My message to parents is get a support system around you. This is not something that's going to get resolved in one or two weeks. This is going to be an ongoing process before, during and after treatment. You need and deserve as a parent to have a good support system built around you.”

21:12 Richard’s message to any sibling who just can’t escape from that situation:

“Parents need to have the conversation with that young person, listen to their feelings, listen to how they're sounding, you know, engage in an inquisitive type of conversation… Sit down with that child and do it from an inquiring point of view.”

23:13 The type of facilities Richard recommends where parents can reach out to get support:

“I think they could start, first of all, with NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, that offers a lot of programs and services for families and adolescents, and tremendous support groups. I think it's one of the best programs out there. They could also get referrals for support groups, therapy groups, from their school counsellor, their individual therapist or their individual physician. There's a lot of resources out there; I have a number of them listed in my book on resources. Many of them are national in scope, but a lot of them have local chapters. I would begin probably by looking at mental health associations and mental health support groups within my geographical area.”

25:38 The biggest change that Richard would like to see in the substance abuse field.

29:05 Harry’s insight on the current format of the American education system and the lack of education on mental health and substance abuse.

32:04 Richard’s reminder to parents about various influences surrounding their children:

“There's been a tremendous surge in vaping among adolescents, and parents need to know about that. Three years ago, for example, the percentage of high school seniors that were vaping marijuana was 9%. Today, it's 22%. The percentage that was vaping nicotine three years ago was 18%. It's 34% now.”

38:38 Harry’s key takeaway.

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Agape

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