Ben Wilson, LPC

My story includes growing up in an alcoholic home and being an addict myself. I never realized my home was that until my marriage and family class in grad school. I knew I was an addict who was sober but the family stuff was still waiting to be exhumed. 

In this class we had to do a genogram, which is a chart that tells the story of an individuals family. I charted my family out and came to the question, "who in your family deals with alcohol or drug addiction?" I shaded the bottom portion of my square and then both of my brothers and then my dad. Looking at all those partially shaded squares made that paper feel like a thousand pounds of truth pressing my chest. I began to weep. 

I had wept before over my own drunkenness but never before at the entire family system of it. So listen to my story below to hear more. The next post I'll discuss more about the impact on intimacy of growing up in an addictive household and following that I'll focus on the impact of being an addict. 

My story starts about five minutes in. There is a brief intro and then a reading of the Beatitudes.

Hear Ben's Story of Addiction