What I wish I knew about substance use prevention

“Our children are our most important guests, who enter our home, ask for careful attention, stay for a while and then leave to follow their own way.” - Henri Nouwen

We didn’t have a choice whether or not we wanted to talk to our kids about addiction or recovery.

By three-years-old our twins knew the word ‘recovery’ and that it was something we did and more than that, a part of who we are as a family.

But, looking back at my own childhood, I remember the first time I snuck away to drink my dad’s beer under an old oak tree and the first time on a back country road, a group of kids (no seatbelts) passed around a thin joint. I was nervous and also ready to say ‘yes’ to anything that could help me escape or feel comfortable in my skin.

Because by fourteen years old, I didn’t know how to cope with what I’d already experienced. I didn’t know how to make sense of a home that didn’t make any sense. A stranger here is how I felt all the time. In the world, around the kitchen table, and even in my own body.

I did the whole DARE program in elementary school (and talked about this in last week’s letter) and maybe my parents talked to me about the dangers of alcohol and drug use? But nothing prepared me for what I actually needed to know about substance use prevention for myself as a kid, teen, or young adult.

How tempting the ‘great escape’ out of the mind and body. How alcohol and drugs lie.

Today, with substances like Fentanyl being highly lethal, it is even more important that we re-imagine how we support our kids and young people. Sadly, sometimes, all it takes is one pill to kill our children.

These words are harsh, I know, but it is a harsh time. I’ve sat with enough parents and mothers whose grief is unimaginably immense and who’ve lost children to the epidemic of addiction or to just one pill.

But what if substance use prevention does not begin with one big, intimidating conversation about drugs or alcohol, but with the small conversations we have with our children (or even ourselves) every day?

That is why I created a free guide called Recovery-Strong Parenting: 5 Back-to-School Tips for Substance Use Prevention. It offers practical ways to build resilience, encourage healthy coping, and begin age-appropriate conversations that replace fear and shame with honesty and connection.

For all of my audio fans out there, I’ve also started a new podcast series on the topic too.

Listen Now

Friends, I know what it’s like to be overwhelmed and afraid to have these conversations. But I’ve learned (am learning) that we don’t need to have all the answers or have perfect answers. We simply need a willingness to keep showing up, listening, and building a home where recovery principles become a way of life.

I’ve asked my kids recently what recovery means to them.

Violet: “Recovery is healthy.”

Henrick: “Recovery means being grateful and helpful.”

You all, this warms my heart because they both are already understanding the soul of the recovery journey.

“Children carry a promise with them, a hidden treasure that has to be led into the open through education (e=out; ducere = to lead) in a hospitable home.”1

Prevention is about educating and leading our children in the way they should go. Cultivating, as Nouwen shares, the hidden treasures within. Prepared to say ‘no’ to what is harmful, but also ready to say ‘yes’ to what is life-giving and healthy.

Get or give your free guide today.

With you in the journey,

Caroline

*

What’s one thing you are teaching your kids or loved ones to say ‘yes’ to in this season? How are you re-imagining substance use prevention in your home, work, church, or community?

Get or give this free guide to a parent or caregiver today.