"I'VE CHANGED"

"I'VE CHANGED"

What makes a recovery story truly inspiring? In "I'VE CHANGED", a circle of mums, dads and one seasoned clinician open up about how their children’s addiction forced them to rethink everything they thought they knew about parenting. Parents like Steve, Jill, Jay and Anita share how they went from fixing and rescuing to setting boundaries, asking for help and learning to "detach with love".

One father recalls the turning point: "I had to accept that I didn’t have all the answers. I needed to accept asking for help. I had to be okay with sharing ugly stories." Another remembers a parent telling him, "You keep making things easy for your son and solving all of his problems, why would he ever change?" — a line that completely shifted his approach.

Clinician and long‑time Caron executive Kate Appelman joins as a guest and brings a dual perspective: professional experience and her own long‑term recovery. She talks about parents and children being on "different trains" and how courageous it is for a parent to change even when their child might not be ready. Across the conversation, you’ll hear about enabling, surrender, shame, duct‑tape‑over‑the-mouth moments, and the slow realisation that change isn’t a neat, straight line.

The group talk frankly about fractured marriages, fear of being "the parent of a drug addict", and the relief of sitting with other people who "really get it". This episode suits any parent or family member who’s thinking, "I don’t know how to be a parent anymore" in the face of addiction or mental health struggles.

You’ll get honest humour, hard‑won wisdom, and a powerful message: you’re allowed to change, and those changes can help your child and your whole family. What might shift for you if you stopped trying to write your child’s story and picked up the pen for your own?