How Can I Fix My Child Who Is an Addict? | Mark Rosman | Part 2

How Can I Fix My Child Who Is an Addict? | Mark Rosman | Part 2

How do people cope with the challenges of staying sober when it’s their child who’s addicted? This emotionally honest instalment of Addiction Talk follows Hollywood director Mark Rosman as he shares what happened when his family had to stop pretending their teenage daughter was “just experimenting” and face the reality of addiction. Aimed squarely at parents and loved ones, the conversation is raw, practical and painfully familiar.

Mark talks about the early warning signs he brushed off – frequent “flu” symptoms, stumbling home after parties, worrying calls from other parents, and shocking text messages he and his partner dismissed as their daughter “exaggerating to be the cool one in the crowd.” He describes the crushing moment an addiction specialist sat them down and said plainly, “Your daughter is taking drugs like almost every day.

This is super serious.” Even then, he admits, denial was strong and they chose a therapeutic boarding school over the recommended rehab. You’ll hear about their frantic attempts to “fix” things: home contracts, drug testing, tracking her phone, hiring a sober coach, piling on more rules and controls. As Mark puts it, “You have to realise if they keep not working, that just doing more of them is going to be the solution.

It really isn’t.” The episode also touches on Al‑Anon, the terror of imagining a beloved child becoming “an addict stumbling around in the streets at age 55,” and the slow shift from expecting a 30‑day cure to understanding this is a long journey for the whole family. By the end, Mark hints at his own “emotional bottom” and sets up part three, where he’ll talk about boundaries, family recovery and what healing began to look like.

If you’re a parent asking, “How can I fix my child?” this conversation gently asks a harder question: how ready are you to face the truth and seek help for yourself too?