A different kind of drug recovery

Abbie Hansen never touched drugs, but she's still recovering from addiction.

It was her mother's substance abuse that left her family "torn apart" for a time. Even when her mother embarked on the long road to sobriety, Hansen felt alone.

"When parents are recovering from addiction, it's kind of, like, a selfish time," said Hansen, a 19-year-old member of Kids of Parents and People in Recovery. "They're trying to get better, and they forget their kids are trying to recover, too."

For the two-dozen parents and children who attend its Monday-night dinners and meetings, the support group has become an extended family.

The group provides a rare chance for children to deal with their parents' addictions, members said, and has helped piece their families back together.

"My own family was torn apart by drugs and alcohol," Hansen said. "My mom wasn't always an addict. When I was younger, she was the PTA president, always at my school carnivals, my school dances, everything. One day, I guess it just clicked, and my whole family got torn apart. Once she got sober, I realized it doesn't have to be like that. It doesn't have to be the horror, the cops, the mess that it makes."

Her mother has since cleaned up, graduated from drug court and now helps organize KOPPIR's weekly meetings at a clubhouse in Murray. Through the group, Hansen and others said they have found the courage to open up about their lives.

"All of us had trust issues," said Jasmine Van Dam, 15. "We couldn't trust our parents, so how could we trust each other?"

Shanin Rapp, a drug and alcohol counselor who works with the group, knows how damaging a parent's substance abuse can be to a child. After 15 years of drug abuse, including heavy crack-cocaine use, Rapp has been sober for nine years.

Still, she has trouble persuading her children to seek help through Kids of Parents and People in Recovery.

"They felt isolation, abandonment, fear, terror," Rapp said. "Now, they feel like that door is closed, let's leave it closed."

But for Colby Rosenbaum of Bountiful, the group has helped him reconnect with his parents, both of whom are recovering from meth addiction.

"We started talking more than we used to," the 17-year-old said. "It's a great way to get a family back together."

e-mail: afalk@desnews.com