Lifeworks Community Foundation: Helping Children From Addicted Families

Did you know that there are 1,000,000 children who live in a family where at least one of their parents or caregivers is addicted to drugs and/or alcohol? That is as much as 10% of our youth population. The Lifeworks Children’s Foundation is a registered charity whose purpose is to help the children who are growing up around addiction.

How the Programme Helps Children

The children’s recovery programme is designed to be:

  • educational
  • recreational
  • therapeutic

It is designed to target children between the ages of seven and 12 years old where they are the most impressionable and vulnerable. By reaching out to children in this age group, the foundation hopes to reach them before they reach a stage where they too, become an addict.

The programme is available across the country and will be available to anyone who needs it regardless of financial situation. It is designed to show children that addiction is not their fault, to show them that there is a way to break the cycle.

The UK programme is modeled after the success of a similar programme running in the United States. So as not to interfere with school work or other social interactions, the programme lasts two and a half days, and can be done over the weekend or during a holiday break from school.

Lifeworks

What the Programme Does

By getting children together who face similar situations at home, they learn that they are not alone. They can share experiences and coping skills while also learning other mechanisms to help them deal with the stress is at home. They will learn to recognize drugs and alcohol as the root of the main problems they experience at home. Through the programme and everything they learn they will also become less angry with their parents and caregivers who are battling addiction. This is a necessary step for adult recovery and for the child’s healthy progression into adulthood.

All parents and caregivers with a child who attends the programme will be given support and information to help them support their child through the programme.  This helps to ensure the programme’s messages are delivered and supported long after the child has completed it.

Though the programme is only in the development phase where 40 to 60 children will have access to it, the programme will continue to expand as it has support from Life Works, Kid’s Company, and the Betty Ford Center.

LifeWorks is a leading provider of addiction and alcohol treatment along with treatment for depression, eating disorders, and other behavioral disorders affecting adults. Kid’s Company is a well recognized and respected charity focused on working with vulnerable children in London. The Betty Ford Centre is a world-renowned addiction treatment center that has one of the longest running and most successful children’s programmes in the world. With the help of these organizations the Lifeworks Children’s Foundation will be able to help thousands of children who struggle with an addict in the home.

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