NEW YORK, NY, April 2007 – Approximately 14 million Americans meet the diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse or alcoholism and more than half of American adults have a close family member who has or has had alcoholism, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Twenty-five percent of children (under the age of 18) are exposed to alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence in the family.  However, the social stigma associated with this nation-wide epidemic often prevents victims and their families from seeking help or speaking out.  Voices of Alcoholism: The Healing Companion: Stories for Courage, Comfort and Strength is an opportunity to bring recognition to this disease and honoring all of those who have survived it. 

Author Donna Veneto, a college senior and author of “Daddy Hyde” in Voices of Alcoholism captures this sentiment, “The Secret was ours to keep and hide from the world.  I was terrified that my friends would learn that my father had a drinking problem.  (Little did I know that they, and the entire neighborhood, knew as much).”

Alcoholism Knows No Boundaries

·         Children who parents abuse alcohol or drugs are three times more likely to be verbally, physically or sexually abused.

-    I Really Am Special is a woman’s childhood account of life with her alcoholic father and the physical, mental and sexual abuse she suffered at his hands.

·         The highest growing number of alcoholics is among 75 year old widowers, according to the American Medical Association.

-    Two Mothers demonstrates how retirement ended the line for one woman’s mother; who only drank at night.

·         Although drinking by persons under the age of 21 is illegal, people aged 12-20 years drink almost 20 percent of all alcohol consumed in the U.S.

-    A Mother’s Journal chronicles one woman’s vigilance and helplessness as she watches her son’s downward spiral from innocent experimentation, to arrest and rehab.

The publication of this anthology includes more than 40 stories of parents, spouses, children and loved ones impacted by alcoholism. These tales of courage, strength and compassion offer insight into the challenges of facing addiction, as well as the shame and isolation experienced by victims of alcoholism.

LaChance Publishing is donating 100% of profits to LaChance’s other entrepreneurial venture The Healing Project (www.thehealingproject.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to the education and support of those living with life-threatening and chronic illnesses.  LaChance is also a Senior Vice-President at The Corcoran Group, a major real estate company in New York City.

Voices of Alcoholism and all of the Voices Of books are available at bookstores everywhere and online at The Healing Project website www.thehealingproject.org.

Title:            Voices of Alcoholism

Author:        The Healing Project

Publisher:    LaChance Publishing

Distributor:   Independent Publishers Group

Publication: April 2008, $16.95 (CAN $18.95) 
                    Paper,ISBN:1934184047;
                    ISBN-13: 9781934184042

Details:        Health, 288 pages, 6 x 9

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