August 27, 2024

In a heartbreaking op-ed that far too many people can relate to, American Addiction Center’s Managing Editor, Laura Close, details the complicated grief of losing a parent to addiction. She describes feeling as though she lost her mother twice, once to her alcohol use disorder and then again when she passed away in 2023. This left Close feeling that she was carrying twice the grief she would have had not she not already mourned the relationship she had with her mother before addiction took hold.

Close talks about how working in the addiction treatment industry has made it easier to understand her mother’s disease but not any easier to accept. She also talks about how she now has a personal mission to educate her loved ones on the disease of addiction and how meaningful the work of helping others who struggling find resources is to her. Read the full article here.