A BALM COACH TRAINEE SHARES HOW THE BALM HAS CHANGED HER LIFE

by Stacey Karchner, BALM® Coach Trainee

I began attending Ala-non Oct. 2012 after the recommendation of my daughters rehab and the urging of my daughter. My life was unmanageable.  I was so reactive.  I was addicted to my loved one and so scared.   It was helpful to walk into the Ala-non room and know I was not  alone ,and I continue to have Ala-non as one of my wellness tools.

In July of 2015 my son flew to South FL from my home in PA to one of his many rehabs (and his last at this point).   I flew to visit him in September 2015 and the first day I was there I got a call a few hours after dropping him off after supper, that he used an abundant amount of an over the counter drug and relapsed.  I was able to see him a few days later in the a.m before flying home and I was crying and told him how disappointed I was because I spent the money to visit and hardly saw him.  How could he do that?. The way I reacted brought shame and guilt to him.

When I got back home I was a wreck.  I had Relapsed too!  I called his therapist and was crying. She ask me if I was signed up for the BALM® and she said it would help me a lot.  She signed me up that day .  I could not get enough of the recordings, the live calls, the principles, 7 steps to BALM® etc.  It was Ala-non on steroids!  The recordings of addicts telling their story brought me so much hope. I have notebooks full of notes from live calls and recordings.

BALM® brought me so much compassion for my children,  especially after learning the Stages of Change.  BALM® has changed my life and relationships.  I do wish I could go back to that day in FL for a redo.   By the grace of God my son will be 2 years sober in Sept and my daughter 5 yrs in Aug.  I know now that if I do have to go through them slipping or relapsing in the future, I will NOT handle it as I did before BALM®.  I am now a loving responder who gathers facts and has loving conversations.  I have learned so many ways to stay calm and I love the clear/unclear chart.    BALM® has been such a blessing in my life , so I made the choice take the courses to be a BALM® Family Recovery Life Coach in order to help families be their loved one’s best chance at recovery.  If I could have had the program and a coach in the beginning of my journey, in the midst of all the crises it would have saved me lots of wrinkles and aging. 🙂

If you would like to hear more of Stacey’s story, you can find it under Principle 6 in Family Recovery Academy.

If you would like to learn more about becoming a member of the BALM® Community CLICK HERE.