Substance Misuse and Its Impacts on the Family Business
Don Schwerzler, internationally recognized expert in family business dynamics and founder of the Family Business Institute, a multi-disciplined, full service resource for family-owned businesses formed in the early 1980s, conducted an interview with me on my latest book, Loved One In Treatment? Now What! In 2001, the Family Business Institute launched the website, Family Business Experts (FBE), which is where this interview appears.
In his introduction, Don explained his reasons for wanting to conduct the interview and share my book with FBE’s family business clients and site visitors:
There many thousands of books and treatises on the subject and one can only hope that each and every one of those books helped to save the life of an addict.
But drug and alcohol addiction has an impact far beyond just the individual who has the addiction – especially in family businesses.
Family businesses are not immune to the personal and professional destruction caused by addiction to alcohol and drugs….
So much of the literature dealing with the Addiction Treatment Recovery Process focuses on the addict – the person doing the drinking and drugging. In a family business, addiction can impact family, friends, employees, vendors and customers.
The following is the first Q and A of the interview:
1. FBE How can this book help our family business clients and visitors to our website?
LF To begin to answer this question, I would like your family business clients and visitors to your website to look at the following statements and see if any sound familiar:
Why won’t she just stop?
Who’d even think of drinking and driving?
It’s just marijuana – what’s the big deal?
We give him money and pay his rent, but it doesn’t seem to help him get on his feet. I don’t know what he does all day!
My husband doesn’t think our daughter’s drinking is that bad. I do, but I can’t stop her if he’s always giving in to her.
I know he doesn’t mean to yell at the kids; it only happens when he drinks, anyway.
I don’t think my wife’s an alcoholic. I mean she has a couple of drinks in the evening and sometimes in the afternoon, but she’s under a lot of stress with the kids and all.
If your family business clients and visitors to your website find these kinds of statements familiar or they are the family member or co-worker of a person whose drinking or drug use is a source of concern, they will find this book helpful. It covers far more than what’s involved with effective addiction treatment and recovery to answer additional questions, such as:
– What causes addiction? Why do some people become alcoholics or drugs addicts and others do not?
– Who among family members and friends can help a loved one get treatment? Or can they?
– What if you can’t get them to stop or seek help?
– How is it possible that addiction is a disease when they are choosing to drink or use drugs?
– Is someone who drinks a lot but still goes to work really an alcoholic?
Best of all, this book answers all of these questions and more in just over 100 pages.
To purchase Loved One In Treatment? Now What! from Amazon, 10th Anniversary Edition If You Loved Me, You’d Stop!. It is also available through Barnes & Noble.com and in some local bookstores.
Lisa Frederiksen
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Very thorough and important information, Lisa. It is valuable to understand the difference between substance abuse and addiction, and appreciate the clarification. It would be interesting to know how much is really spent on helping employees recover from addiction or substance abuse each year. It is another loss that we don’t always consider. Thanks.