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Addictions affect families,
businesses and organizations. They are a major obstacle in
relationships, work-life and society. Even with therapy and
in abstinence, problems are persistent.
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Substance or activity, legal
or illegal, all addictions are sadly similar: a descending
spiral of social disconnection and personal disintegration.
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Medical professionals and
social workers promote the treatment of the individual
suffering from addictions, but they aren’t authorized to
produce positive outcomes for all the other victims of the
person’s behaviour.
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Support
groups, like Alcoholics Anonymous and the other 12-Step
programs, relieve the isolation of the individual, but they
don’t bring everyone together into a co-operative process.
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The legal system creates
winners and losers. The battles end in a compromise, at the
best of times.
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Mediation is the most
realistic method of intervention. Apprehending addicts and
throwing them into rehabs rarely leads to sustainable
solutions. In mediation we get together to intervene against
the problem, not by battling the addicted person, but by
empowering the deeper needs of everyone involved.
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We very effectively help
someone who is suffering from addictions when we stop
arguing and stop enabling and instead join in a concerted
effort that prevents him or her from doing more harm.
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Why settle for a compromise, where everybody loses
something, when a peaceful resolution can be created for
everyone in mediation?
