Home for the Hellidays!

Ooh the holidays! They provide every college student with the needed escape from the daily grind of class and homework. However, a significant number of college students are not looking forward to their return home. Family life has been a roller coaster ride with past memories of fear, distrust, and shame in an alcoholic home.

Through peer, mentor and self-help these feelings of uneasiness can be eased for students returning to an alcohol saturated environment.

The various feelings a student of an alcoholic may feel about their return trip home . . .

• Anxious: Constantly worrying about family troubles and fear of fights and violence to come
• Embarrassed: Ashamed of the situation at home and may withdrawal from friends and family
• Guilty: leaving other siblings/family members behind
• Angry: Child resents drinking parent and may be angry with non-drinking parent for lack of support/protection
• Depressed: Loneliness and sense of helplessness over family troubles.
• Confused: Drinking parents sudden mood swings and unpredictable behavior

Some statistics

• 1 in 8 college students come from a home with at least one alcoholic parent
• 76 million people in the US have had an alcoholic relative
• 6.6 million children under 18 live in a home with an alcoholic relative
• 1 in 4 people come from an alcoholic family

Survival Skills needed to cope through the Holiday Season with an alcoholic . . .

• It is not your responsibility to make the alcoholic stop drinking, you did not make them pick up the bottle. Getting the needed help is up to the individual.
• Develop day to day coping strategies. This may be spending daily time with friends, going on a daily run on your own, writing your feelings down in a daily journal.
• Keep family traditions alive, regardless of the alcoholic's actions. Spend quality time with your siblings and other family members you want to see.
• Avoid confrontations when the alcoholic individual is intoxicated. This will only escalate the situation. Go on and celebrate your holidays!