Social Isolation and families

1
Social Isolation and families

• Marg Quon
• Mt Evelyn Family and Friends Support Group

2
Social isolation for families

• Is a debilitating aspect of substance abuse.
• It impacts on self esteem
• And the ability to interact with communities
• Lowers self belief that things will change
• Stop feeling good about who you are
• And what you have done in life

3
Social isolation

• Empties you of hope
• Disempowers our knowledge and wisdom
• Around drug use
• Can make us resentful sometimes envious of others
  we perceive as having no problems or who judge
  us.
• We must change our attitude to drug use

4
Social isolation

• Holds a family hostage
• to the chaos of drug use
• To the fear of death of our children
• To the grief of losing ones life created before
  drug use
• By cutting them off from the human circle,
  feeling left out and alienated.

5
Common ingredients needed

• Help, empathy
• Hope, flexibility
• Meaning, creativity
• Humour
• Wisdom-coming to grips with the situation
• to overcome the adversity of living with a loved
  ones drug use

6
Families and social isolation

• The suffering is the product of what
• human beings do to each other,
• stigma attached to drug use
• rejecting a family, no respite, no offers of
  help
• preventing friends from visiting siblings.
• Left out of family events
• Avoid visiting house

7
Support groups

• Break the isolation
• Share our stories
• Teach us how to help
• Being helpful to others strengthens
• It is more the love you give that saves you from
  despair

8
Support group

• Education drug and alcohol courses ..formal and
  informal, teaching
• Attend conferences and seminars, speak
• Art lessons, oil painting, exhibitions
• Art therapy
• Writing publish our work
• Radio interviews

9
Support group

• Made submissions to Inquiries to raise profile of
  families
• Drug use can happen to any family
• Isolation can break that family