review of Rewriting LIfe Scripts: Transformational Recovery for Families of Addicts
Authors" Liliane Desjardins, Nancy Oelklaus, Irene Watson

Rewriting Life Scripts
Transformational Recovery for Families
of Addicts
Authors: Liliane Desjardins, Nancy Oelklaus, Irene Watson
Publisher: Life Scripts Press
ISBN: 978-1-932690-97-2

When a family member has an addiction (to alcohol, drugs, etc.) the other members of the family by necessity are forced to change their behaviors, their lifestyle and their expectations. In many cases, these changes have occurred slowly and over a period of years or even decades. When the addicted family member make the monumental move towards recovery, the family often finds itself thrown into a new kind of chaos without expecting or understanding it.

This book is based mainly on using the 12 step addiction recovery process, but everything discussed can be utilized regardless of the method of recovery used. The book is divided into several parts, each dealing with a different stage of recovery. Families will find this helpful, enabling them to study and work through each recovery phrase as it's being experienced by the recovering family member. By completing all parts, the reader will reach a clear understanding of just what changes and adjustments they have had to make in the past and how the family dynamics will now be changing for the better. Topics are covered in a clear and easy to understand manner, explaining all the stages of change, defining the various roles played by family members in both the dysfunctional (addiction) phase and the truly transforming and freeing journey the family members all take as they work together to rewrite and change the family dynamics.

The three authors bring a wide range of life experiences, education and career training to this work. This gives the book a deeper, broader application that will apply to an untold number of families. I highly recommend this book to anyone who works with addiction and recovery, and to anyone and everyone who is part of a family at any point on the addiction spectrum. Excellent resource and promising tool for a happier family.