I CAN BE ME
A Helping Book for Children from Troubled Families
-with a special focus on children of addicted parents-
I Can Be Me supports children from troubled families. It includes a special focus on children of addicted parents. Dr. O'Connor is in the process of updating the fifth edition of I Can Be Me.
There are two versions of I Can Be Me - The Adult Version and The Children's Work Book. These two books work together to support children of addicted parents. They can be purchased separately or bundled together.
The Adult Version of I CAN BE ME is a guide for helping professionals and parents who want to help children of alcoholic and drug addicted parents. The adult guide assists therapists, parents and other adults in addressing this issue with children. It addresses family problems from the perspective of children whose parents are addicted to alcohol or other substances. I Can Be Me also supports children who are experiencing other adverse childhood experiences.
The Children's Work Book helps children take off the masks that hide their true feelings and come to terms with the alcohol or drug abuse in families. Entertaining drawings and simple text make this book easy to understand, and invite kids to add their own thoughts and feelings. It also serves as a colouring book and provides children with the therapeutic value that colouring offers. Colouring helps reduce stress and anxiety, helps calm the brain, relaxes the body, improves focus and promotes mindfulness.
Both the Adult Guide and The Children's Work Book can be used individually with a child, or with a group of children in a support group setting.
I Can Be Me has been updated to reflect the literature on Adverse Childhood Experiences.
Help for Children of Addicted Parents
Are you worried about a child of addicted parents? Is addiction an issue in your family or the family of a child you care about, and/or work with? Do you wonder how you can support children of addicted parents?
You are not alone. Family problems like problem drinking, drug abuse and codependency affect children and contribute to and exacerbate child problems.
Millions of children are growing up world wide in families where parental addiction is a problem.
In the United States alone, an estimated 11 million children under the age of 18 live in US households with at least one alcoholic parent.
With I Can Be Me -- A Helping Book for Children from Troubled Families- you can make a difference in the lives of these children. Children can suffer whether the addicted family member is a parent, sibling or other close relative.
Children often need help during the addicted parent's stage of active alcohol or substance abuse and through their struggle for recovery. Unhealthy family patterns can continue long after sobriety is achieved and negatively affect the child.
Without help, children of addicted parents are at increased risk of developing social, emotional, behavioral and learning problems. These issues can predispose them to problems as adults.
How I Can Be Me Can Help
Through entertaining drawings and text I CAN BE ME teaches children about addiction. It also suggests strategies for building healthy coping behaviors in children.
Through a series of creative exercises and activities children learn:
- They are not responsible for their parents' addiction. They cannot cure, cause or control the addiction.
- About feelings and healthy ways to express them.
About the defenses or masks we use to hide our feelings - How addiction affects the entire family.
- How to make good decisions/choices and solve problems.
- To take care of themselves.
- There are good things about their families.
- There are lots of kids with addicted parents.
- They are not alone and can find help.
- To recognize and celebrate the good things about themselves.
I Can Be Me encourages children to:
- Move through their defenses toward increased psychological well-being and healthier coping skills.
- Build healthier, more positive views of themselves, their lives and their capabilities.
- Build increased independence, self-reliance and competence.
- Develop appropriate problem-solving and decision-making skills.
- To work with their families to build healthier family relationships and attachment bonds.
- To build their self-confidence and feelings of self-esteem.
I Can Be Me is written from a child's perspective. The pictures and text are based on the experiences of children of addicted parents.
Children hear others speak to them through the pages of this book. They learn they are not alone..... there are other kids just like them. The drawings and text help children to express their feelings and thoughts through work-book activities, drawing, writing or discussion.
You Can Help
I Can Be Me can help you help the children of addicted parents you care about and work with.
- Use I CAN BE ME with an individual child or several children in group settings.
- Eight separate units make I Can Be Me an ideal companion to counseling or support group sessions.
- Parents or helping professionals can also use sections of I CAN BE ME to address the unique concerns of an individual child.
- The introduction suggests strategies for integrating I CAN BE ME into to your own helping program or family life.
Information and support are organized into eight core chapters:
- Addiction
- Feelings
- Feeling Masks
- A Family Problem
- Help Yourself
- Decisions
- Family Change
- Lots of Kids Like Us
"I CAN BE ME" Has Been Well Received
"I Can Be Me" is superb and very, very accurate--congratulations! Could you please
send me another copy? I would also like to distribute I Can Be Me to the school systems, which
lack greatly in understanding and information." (a concerned parent and community member)
Find out who has purchased I Can Be Me and what people are saying about I CAN BE ME.