Help with a family member

I am worried. My family has known for a while that my brother in law is a drinker. I also knew that my eldest niece knew about this and had issue with it...she has also been bullied at school about her dad's drinking. I found out today that her sister has recently found out. After a holiday this year he promised them both he'd give up. One of them then found an empty bottled hidden behind the bin. This has upset them both very much and has led to much friction between my eldest niece and her dad. My sisters have given her a get out clause to get out the house at any time. However, I am still concerned. I wonder whether anyone can give me any ideas on how to help my brother in law to get off the booze, but also how to help my two nieces especially how to help the eldest to relieve the anger that builds up over her dads drinking.

Hey,

It might prove difficult getting through to him about his problem, but you can certainly do yuor best to be there for the nieces. You can act like their older sister, perhaps, and make them very aware that they can send yuo a message anytime they are worried, angry, or otherwise. Getting through to him - as I've mentioned - might be difficult. The fact that he promised he would stop drinking but then went back indicates to me that he is out of self-control with the problem, and needs exteral help. However, a positive is that he has semi-admitted to the problem already, merely by saying that he'd give it up.

You are welcome to send him info about alcoholism, but be wary about his response. If he responds angrily, then do not respond back. The info you could send could be anything from contact numbers (i.e. of organisations, meeting-groups, etc) to stories by previous sufferers.

I have heard that the Al-Anon is a good group.

Kevin

Hello,

I am a sober alcoholic that used to have a terrible drinking problem (physical and mental dependency). The fact that he wants to stop and knows he has a problem is a good start. Having the will is the first major step for a alcoholic. AA got me sober, and i love going to meetings because there are people there that understand my problem and why i did what i did. AA is "different", but that's why it works. But everything different that an alcoholic does is better than what he was doing before. No one wants to go to meetings at first. All alcoholics want to believe that they can handle the problem on their own. That's what i tried for years and it was a disaster. It took me loosing my wife and nearly my career to say enough is enough. He will probably frown on the idea that he needs external help...but tell him to try AA everyday for a week or month and find some groups that he enjoys attending (and a couple sponsors, in case he gets a overwhelming urge to drink), and i can almost guarantee that he will like his new support system and it will give him encouragement to stay off alcohol. It got me sober, i finally kicked the habit i am very glad that i gathered up the guts, stepped out of my 'box', and went to a meeting. I have never met such supportive and nice people in my life. It was the best decision i've ever made. Good luck, it's a tough habit to kick.

You should do conscious about bad effects of alcohol addiction to him. You can take tips from any rehab center that how to stop drink.