By:Nicole Falco
The Long Island Council on Drug and Alcohol Dependence (LICADD) estimates that there are 170,000 addiction-prone children on Long Island. Those children are the legacy of their alcohol- or drug-dependent parents or relatives. Most experts agree that the key to raising a child who does not become drug- or alcohol-dependent as a teenager or adult is early intervention.
"You don't have to drink or drug to be hurt by it," said Jim Devine, 61, executive director of LICADD. "We know that there is a strong genetic connection between addictive disorders and the generations that preceded them. Over and over again, with people in recovery, they'll talk about their families - parents, aunts, uncles who've had some kind of dependency."
LICADD, a private, not-for-profit organization providing services to individuals and families who are affected by alcohol and other drugs, is offering two new prevention-education/early-intervention programs. LICADD's Legacy Prevention Program, modeled after a program used at the famed Betty Ford Family Center, is geared toward the 7- to 12-year-old children of alcohol- or drug-dependent parents at any stage of recovery. The goal of Legacy is to help children understand more fully what they and their parents are going through and what they can do to help themselves become more resilient.
LICADD's Roots and Wings Parents Program, which is adapted from the Hazeldon Treatment Center's resiliency training series, is a companion program for parents whose children are in the Legacy program. The goal of Roots and Wings is to teach parents how to raise resilient children.
"The seeds of recovery will operate, hopefully, for generation after generation in a family," said Devine, who has been in recovery for 35 years.
Both programs ask for a six-session commitment. Sessions will be held in group settings, and each one will focus on a different topic. The topics in the Legacy program are addiction, feelings, problem solving, treatment and recovery, safe people, and coping. The topics in the parallel parent program are risk factors and protectors, standards, teachable moments, setting boundaries/building bridges, feelings, and rituals and traditions. The sessions are interactive.
LICADD received a $65,000 grant from the Christopher D. Smithers Foundation, which is backed by Adele Smithers Fornaci, the widow of R. Brinkley Smithers, who founded LICADD in 1956.
Initially, Devine said, LICADD hoped to begin piloting the program in October in two treatment centers in Nassau County - the Kenneth Peters Center in Syosset and Bridge Back to Life in Bethpage. Devine said that LICADD is in the process of rewriting its grant to include additional treatment centers in the county. He said the programs should be up and running by February.
The greatest obstacle to getting the programs off the ground is to create awareness that they exist. Devine hopes to spread the word about the programs through school social workers and by meeting with treatment-center directors. "We have the program, we have the curriculum, we have trained facilitators on the launch pad, but we don't have the fuel, and the fuel is the parents and children," Devine said.
Other services LICADD offers
In its 50-year history, LICADD has helped more than 80,000 individuals and families find effective treatment and recovery programs for alcoholism and other dependencies through education/prevention programs, assessment, referral and intervention services.
A well-known program offered through LICADD is Smart Kids. The program is presented in a classroom environment for children in first through sixth grades.
LICADD has two offices on Long Island - one on Hillside Avenue, in Williston Park, and the other on Veterans Memorial Highway, in Hauppauge. For more information, visit www.licadd.org or call (516) 747-2606.
Comments about this story? NFalco@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.
