ABOUT ME AND FAMILY ADDICTION SUPPORT
HI I’M VICKI-ANN THORNTON
Mine is the third generation of alcoholics in our family and we are devastated. Blown to bits, annihilated, obliterated. Consequently, we need to work on relationships, within and outside the family. When I was younger, it took a lot of guts to turn my back on my family and start a new life without them. As I got older, I found I needed family addiction support and a lot of it!
But now, looking at my kids and grandkids, I'm glad I did the hard yards.
I'll let you in on my secrets - I get the frustration and confusion of life as ACoA. As I grew older, I didn't want to live in that world of frustration and confusion any longer. So I have read extensively - my favourite books are by Tian Dayton. I've worked hard at many workshops and spent hours in therapy to get where I am today. Now I want to share this with you so you don't have to do it the hard way. Like I did. Family addiction support is vital to our lives as ACoA. Although I have begun the journey of resolution, I'm still learning and as I find things out you'll be the first to know.
EVERYDAY LIFE IS BETTER SINCE I STARTED RECOVERY
I live in New Zealand with my partner and the spirit of our pussycat BBWhiskers. We have two children and two grandchildren that we delight in. It's so wonderful and healing to see these little ones grow up without all the fears and problems that I had as a child. They will never have to do what I did to survive.
I love to craft and am currently into making little things with concrete. As well as this, I am most passionate about psychodrama and love, love, love it! The thrill of being on the stage, seeing what a person brings to the drama and feeling our way into it together is immensely satisfying. I volunteer at Familial Trust -we specialise in family addiction support, which feeds my soul. I love to write and hope you enjoy reading, feeling and thinking about what I have to say.
Why did I write a book about ACOA?
A couple of years ago (way back in the olden days before I started family addiction recovery) I created an online course with Thinkific about the mother and daughter relationship.
I based it on my own experience with my alcoholic mum and our family. It was the most awesome course and it was going to change the world. So I worked on it day and night for over a year.
It consumed my life, it was all I talked and thought about. I even dreamed about it.
You know what happened next - the course flopped majorly. Eventually, I told myself that the world wasn't ready for me yet and licked my wounds.
Then I turned my knowledge into a workbook about how I have changed since the momentous day I learned I was an Adult Child of Alcoholics and the things that helped me. I hope they help you too.
Now, here I am, talking with you face to face about my experiences with family addiction therapy and my past.
Life can get better
These words burn in me, I long for you to read them and take them into your heart too.
Because I know the fear and confusion that you feel, I feel it too. How you look around at everyone else who has it together and sigh as you try to get through one more day.
To be a mum who has nothing to base mothering on except tv shows.
Longing for intimacy but not knowing how to get it or even what it means.
For this reason, I'm here to tell you that life can get better - you can make it better. You don't have to do it alone, either, I'm here for you.
I can show you how with family addiction recovery.
In these blogs, I'll show you the family roles and rules and how to use them to your advantage. How to avoid passing on the codependence that you learned while growing up as Adult Children of Alcoholics.
You can make connections between the past and the present.