Struggling Parent
Hello everyone,
I am new to this board, but have been struggling for 3+ years with a teenage son who is an alcoholic and marijuana addict. He has been expelled from school, been in multiple outpatient rehab clinics and completed a stay at an inpatient facility last year. He was doing well it seemed for 7-8 months, then he turned 18 recently and gradually stopped going to meetings and stopped seeing his outpatient counselor, and inevitably relapsed while starting to hang out at the place of a legal age drinker and another friend he used to get drunk and high with.
Since we have more experience now with the lies and deceptions and altered behaviors of a teenage addict/alcoholic, we were able to catch it more quickly this time, but it is no less painful. And now it is more complicated since he is now a legal adult. He has talked about moving out so he can keep hanging out with his friends, but we laid down strict conditions for him to continue living with us and it seems like he has begrudgingly accepted them. So I sense that deep down he knows he needs help and needs a structured environment. But I fear that at any moment he could get mad at what he perceives as being "controlled" and move out on his own. I don't feel he is ready to deal with this powerful disease on his own, so I really want him to stay with us and continue recovery, which he is doing so far. It would be easier to let go, but I can't, not as long as he's living with us. Have my first Al-anon meeting tonight. I'll see how that goes. Thank you for "listening".