Lecture room: Lögberg – 201. Click for a map.
Working institution
Tyrili-foundation / Lillehammer University College
Abstract
I am a PhD candidate in the Tyrili-foundation, which offers inpatient and outpatient treatment for persons who suffer from substance use disorder. My study is a part of the Mosaic-project in Lillehammer University College.
I will use this opportunity to make some reflections on how we can make children who grow up with parental substance use problems, cope – handle their situation in a better way. Can we prevent the transmission of substance use problems from generation to generation?
The main aim of the PhD project is to make the children more “visible”. I will focus on how we can help these children feel safe and help them cope, and how to give them support in emotion-regulation.
So the questions are, among others – Has anyone talked to the children about growing up with parental substance use? What did they talk about? What did the children say? Did the children get information about their parent’s health and treatment during inpatient treatment? In what way has this influenced the way they look upon themselves and their parents – the story of their lives?
Analyzing the first of my interviews with the adolescents I became aware of two theoretical contributions that seemed interesting in the discussion of my findings. These are about childhood trauma and theories of narrative therapy. I will shortly present the Three Pillars of trauma-wise care, and give some key-points of narrative therapy.