Bring Your Family Closer Together

I suffered through a long-term, traumatic relationship as a child with my mother and as an adult with my late husband. All of which left me feeling worthless, useless and never good enough as a woman, as a mother, and as a person. But I was never able to put the pieces together until later on in life, after a series of life-changing experiences.

 

Upon the demise of my husband, I turned to alcohol as my place of comfort and solace. A place that numbed the painful emotions within me and the hurtful series of events that occurred in my life. Alcohol helped me with the short-term needs of loneliness, the feeling of emptiness, the rejection and the need to feel worthy. But it was all a temporary feeling, in the high, and once the substance left the body, I was feeling twice as bad. What I did not realize then was that alcohol was eating me up on the inside, emotionally more than anything else. After a few years of battling my inner demons, I held out my hands for help. When I was finally able to accept the painful fact that I was an alcoholic.

 

My counsellor at Andolfi Family Therapy Centre was God-sent.

 

I met him through a referral and the journey that I had with him was a blessing that did not just help me to analyze my present state of mind as an alcoholic, but to unlock the past trauma that has significantly destroyed my life in many ways, for almost three decades and to deal with it fearlessly. He understood the core of the problem that I thought I was over with, helped me to find the courage to face it and gave me the wisdom to deal with it. It was not the addiction itself but the journey of realizing something deeper that left me wounded time after time which resulted in a self-destructive habit or pattern. My counsellor was able to guide me out of the trauma by helping me understand what worked best for me, what was right or wrong from a psychological standpoint, what was acceptable and unacceptable for personal growth, and what I truly needed as a person, as a human. My counsellor was a much-needed guide, especially for a person like me whose mind lost its ability to process and evaluate situations due to prolonged abuse - physically, emotionally, mentally, and verbally.

 

Today, I am in a better place because my counsellor was not there just as a counsellor but above that, as a friend - who never judged me through circumstances. He was bold by the notion of, "being cruel to be kind," and I have finally found my strength and my worth. I am truly grateful for the time he has spent with me because that valuable time has made me view things from a perspective that I may not have, otherwise.

 

Thank you.