A Letter from a Parent.....


March 9, 2005

FAIR
Dear John, Jennifer, Joel and the rest of the staff at FAIR,

    I'm writing today to tell you about a success today. Today, my daughter told my husband and I that she had her yearly review at work and that they had given her a substantial raise. Katie is 21 years old and has been working at a law firm as a clerk for 3 years. She is also attending Harper College part-time. We are so proud of Katie that she is doing so well at her job.

    But monetary success is only a small part of Katie's story. The real success story is that Katie is a graduate of FAIR and has been drug free for five years. It was about this time of year, five years ago, that we first brought Katie to FAIR. That was not an easy task. My husband had to carry her into the car, as she was kicking and screaming after we told her we were bringing her to get drug tested at FAIR. She was very stubborn and was addicted to drugs and alcohol.

    We followed the advice of the counselors at FAIR and attended all the weekly meetings. Our lives were out of control, and FAIR helped us to learn how to set limits. Eventually with a lot of hard work, we were able to regain control over our lives and eliminate the chaos that our lives had become. I am so grateful to the staff at FAIR for showing us that there was a better way to deal with our daughter.

    To all the parents whose children are now attending FAIR, I want to encourage you to continue to love and support your children by following the guidelines that FAIR is teaching you. The counseling sessions at FAIR were not covered by our insurance, and it seemed to be very expensive at the time, but I do not regret spending any money on my daughter's recovery. It was worth every penny that we spent.

    I also want to mention that as parents, you are ultimately the judge as to what works best for your children. Learn to trust your gut instincts on what is the best way of dealing with your unique children. Early on in the program at FAIR, we followed FAIR's rules explicitly because what we had been doing previously wasn't working. As Katie progressed in the program, and as we learned more, we were able to regain control over our lives and make better decisions on our own.

    I am so proud of Katie. I really think that the key to Katie's success is that she was able to keep friendships with "straight" kids and was able to cut off friendships with "using" kids.

    In closing, I want to express my gratitude to all the counselors at FAIR. I also want to thank all the parents and children that that went through FAIR at the same time as us. We were able to learn from their insight into our problems and hopefully they were able to learn from us. I wish each and every family will be able to learn the valuable lessons that we did at FAIR. The most important things that I learned are:

• Realizing that our lives were out of control
• Realizing that we needed help
• Seeking out and accepting help
• Following the FAIR guidelines and the principles of AA (Parents: get a copy of the AA book and read it cover to cover- you may just learn something about yourself)
• Loving your children enough to set limits

Sincerely,
Parent from FAIR

...Helpful Information for Parents, Families, and Teens....

:::    Alcoholics Anonymous    :::    Families Anonymous    :::    National Institute on Drug Abuse    :::

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