Can Families Recover from Addiction Together? | Mark Rosman | Part 3

Can Families Recover from Addiction Together? | Mark Rosman | Part 3

How do people find hope in the darkest times? This instalment of **Addiction Talk** circles back to Hollywood director Mark Rosman as he shares how recovery reshaped his entire family, not just his daughter. Speaking candidly, Mark describes hitting his “emotional bottom” in a parent workshop, admitting, “I am doing terribly… I feel defeated.” That honesty cracked something open.

When another parent said, “Parents have to take care of themselves,” it finally landed for him – not as spa days and yoga, but as putting his emotional health first. He talks about years of codependency, where his mood rose and fell with his daughter’s, and his terror of losing her love if he set limits.

The turning point came when he began asking, *How do I feel about this?* and practising the simple but terrifying phrase: “No is a complete sentence.” As he “cleaned up [his] side of the street”, he noticed more serenity in himself and more respect from his daughter. Mark stresses that families need help too: support groups like Al‑Anon, parent workshops, and addiction‑savvy counsellors.

Hearing other parents’ stories, he says, can be “chillingly like your own”, breaking the isolation and panic many feel. He also shares the heart behind his independent film **Keep Coming Back**, which follows a father at a rehab parent workshop. The film mixes humour with heavy moments, reflecting how real recovery families still laugh, even in the hard bits.

For Mark, the message is simple: “Parents can be the biggest part of the problem or the biggest part of the solution.” If you’re a parent or loved one worn out by someone else’s addiction, could shifting the focus to your own healing be the change that starts to move everything else?