Book Description

Who do you go to when you are searching for help, after your once smiling, enthusiastic child, changes into someone you hardly recognise? This book is for all parents who have children and are concerned about their future. It will help them to understand those whose lives have been shattered by the use of drugs in their sons and daughters lives whether they are single parents, grandparents, parents of older children or younger parents whose children are also young. It is written to offer hope to those that have lost it, to strengthen couples that are fighting each other, to help find others to talk and share with, and to discover that together they do not need to be ruled or blackmailed by drugs - they can make a difference and bring collective change. Like all change it does not always come cheaply and often with a cost. The book is written to help them first to see change comes to oneself before any other change can take place, to learn to understand themselves and take responsibility for their thoughts and actions before they take the practical steps of heralding in change in their homes, to find peace in their lives and consistency and stability in the values they have chosen to hold. The book does not shy away from the practical steps to take with children and drugs, the turmoil and pain it really brings to broken and fractured families. It is written to help those who still do not want to believe that drugs have pervaded their homes, for those who still think it will turn out alright, for those who do not like talking to others and for those who want to fix the problems for their children. With all these things in mind that the book has not been written as a step by step process to success or the A-Z of the right answers, and it does not promise that the children will stop using drugs - it is written out of 16 years of experience working with thousands of people either using drugs or affected by them, the families devastated by drug use, parents who do not know where to go or what to do. It is written expressing the pain of parents and the destruction that drugs have brought to their families. The book offers hope and empowers individuals to not only face up to the problems laid before them but to learn how to grow through them and become stronger people, to unite with others who are enduring similar problems to find purpose in bringing change as influencers and educators of hope to others. David Blyth has been involved in Pastoral ministry for 26 years. He managed a homeless unit for 24 men, and during this time decided to understand the cycles of behaviour that affected their lives. This led to him going to Ruskin College Oxford to study the misuse of drugs and alcohol and HIV/Aids issues. He also studied to become an accredited counsellor which he still holds today. He subsequently set up a counselling and support service for people struggling with addiction problems which led to working with parents and families of drug using sons and daughters. David has been involved in working with addictions for 20 years. He also became a coach working with business and professional people with addiction issues which he has been doing for 6 years. The book came out of a real passion to help families not only deal with the problems of addictions, but to also become part of the recovery process.