Stephanie,
What interested me was the high number of women you will be working with who
have had substance abuse problems.  If you have never attended an open
meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, please do so.  It
can be very difficult for people who do not understand diseases of addiction
to understand the behavior of people who have these diseases and are trying
to recover from them.  I first learned of the work of these support groups
when I was a child abuse case worker in Appalachia years ago.  The only
families I saw where the cycle of abuse and violence were effectively broken
were families which became involved in 12 Step recovery.  Since you will be
working with these people, that qualifies you for Al-Anon.  That is where I
learned about detachment with love, not taking responsibility for other
people's behavior, and how not to enable sick behavior.


Barbara Wilson-Clay BSEd, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
http://www.lactnews.com

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