August 2, 2021
To contribute to recovery is to know that addiction to alcohol, drugs, eating, sex, gambling, are all treatable maladies. As a person in long term recovery from alcoholism once shared with me, “When I was drinking, I told everyone I was choosing to drink. In reality, I had no choice at all. Once I initially ‘chose’ alcohol, it chose me, over and over and over again, until I was able to stop. “
In his case that stop came after 16 years, when his wife let him know she would no longer share her life with alcohol. The declaration, followed by actions to back it up, helped him make a decision to live his life with her, rather than with alcohol as well.
Principle One introduces five tips a family can follow to help their loved one make a decision to get help:
Be A Loving Mirror (or BALM) is actually the core of the BALM program. It means to practice building your reservoir of inner peace (yes, even in the storm of your loved one’s challenges) as you learn how to break through your own denial of how bad things are or could get and begin to loving tell your loved one the objective facts of what you are seeing them do and hearing them say. This must be done in a planned, skilled fashion, as doing it incorrectly can contribute to the addiction rather than the recovery. The 7 Steps to BALM Course, which is part of the BALM One Year Program, will teach you the step by step process of how to work the BALM effectively and your BALM coach will guide you to apply it in your specific life situation.
Beverly Buncher, MA, PCC, CBFRLC, CTPC, known as the "Foremost Family Recovery Life Coach in the Nation", is the Founder and CEO of Family Recovery Resources, LLC, and the BALM® (Be A Loving Mirror®) Institutes for Family Recovery Coach Training and Family Recovery Education.
BALM® Family Recovery | Be A Loving Mirror® Method of Family Recovery
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