The Power Of Family Support

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Hello and welcome to family sobriety. Now I'm Joseph Devlin, and if you're listening to this, chances are you've been carrying something heavy. Maybe it's the worry, maybe it's the responsibility, maybe it's just the daily exhaustion of loving someone who's stuck in addiction. I want you to know this podcast is for you, for the parent, the spouse, the sibling, who doesn't have all the answers but refuses to stop loving. This space is about clarity, not control, strength, not shame, and most of all hope. Today's episode is about the power of family support, and we're going to talk about what it really looks like to walk this road with your loved one without losing your mind, your voice or your heart in the process. So let's get at it. They want to tell you about Angela, as always, names are changed. Now, Angela is a mother whose son, Kyle, was struggling with heroin addiction. At this time, he was 24 years old, and this had been going on since he was about 18 years old. Now, Angela was worn thin, and when she came to me, she wasn't angry and she wasn't yelling. She was empty.

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She said,

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Joseph, I don't know who

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I am anymore.

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I wake up every day trying to save him, and I go to bed every night wondering if he's alive. The moment that brought her to me, happened after Kyle had stolen $600 from her purse. It was money Angela had saved to fix her brakes so she could get to work safely in the winter. When she confronted Kyle, he turned it around on her. He told her she didn't trust him, that she was always judging him, and then if she really loved him, she'd help him get back on his feet. No questions asked,

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she told me later, it

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wasn't even the money that broke me it

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was that he made me feel like the bad guy for trying to keep him alive. That night, she sat on the kitchen floor sobbing, holding one of his baby photos, and she whispered, I love you, but I can't do this any more.

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Now. Here's the thing,

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Angela didn't walk away from Kyle, but she did begin to make a different choice.

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She started doing the hardest work of all,

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the inner work.

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She joined a family support group. She started journaling and praying again, but not the old prayers, those begging, desperate ones.

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This time, her prayer

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was simple,

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God, help me love without control. Help me hope without losing myself. She called her sister, who had also been watching Kyle struggle from a distance together, they built a response plan. They practiced what to say and how to say it and when to step back. One phrase became their anchor. It was this, we love you too much to help you die. They practiced it out loud, calmly, not yelling, not shaming, because when you're in the midst of that storm. You need your words ready, not rehearsed like a script, but practiced like a lifeline. Now, a couple of months later, Kyle showed up middle of the night, high, freezing, scared, crying. He asked if he could stay Angela didn't slam the door. She didn't open it wide either. She said, gently, you can come in and sleep, but in the morning we talk.

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We're not going back

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to what it was.

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And the next morning, they sat down just the two of them, Angela told them, I will always love you, but I will not lie for you. I will not fund your destruction. I will not make excuses anymore. If you want help, we are here, but we will not participate in this anymore. Kyle didn't say much. He left again for a few days.

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But here's the thing,

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Angela's calm, grounded response did something no panic or pleading ever did. It gave him something solid to return to.

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Angela didn't stop there.

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She started walking every morning, no phone, no noise, just movement and breath.

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She began lighting a candle every night at dinner,

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one for Kyle,

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not to pretend he was fine, but to say out loud, he is still ours, but our life will go on. She told me later, it gave me peace to hold space for him, but not carry his weight. And little by little, her body started to relax again. Her mind grew clearer. She could hold joy in one hand and pain in the other without feeling like she had to choose.

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That's something I want you to hear.

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You don't have to abandon your life just because someone you love is losing theirs.

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If you're listening,

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and you see yourself in Angela know this,

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you're not alone,

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and your love doesn't have to be loud to be powerful. You might be exhausted from swinging between pushing too hard and being pushed over completely that middle ground. It's real, but it takes practice and support.

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Here's why this matters,

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when your loved one is ready to reach for help the thing they will remember more than lectures or threats

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is the steadiness in your voice,

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the calm in your eyes, the truth you never stopped telling with love Your peace becomes an invitation, and if they never change, you will still have your health, your clarity and your heart intact.

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That is not failure.

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That is sacred strength. You

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so if this story touched something in you, if you're in that place between love and fear, between hope and heartache, I want you to know you are not forgotten in this process. Your healing matters too. If this episode gave you something, a phrase, a shift, a sense of relief, I invite you to reach out. I work with families like Angela's every week,

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and I'd be honored to walk with You. You.

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Visit family sobriety now.com to connect or just send a message. You don't have to fix it all. You just have to take the right step. If this episode was helpful, please subscribe, share it with someone you love, or leave a review. Every small action helps get this message out to the people who need it most.

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I want to thank you for joining me today

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and until our next episode, remember, sobriety is a family affair.