An Elephant In the Living Room / Jill M. Hastings & Jill M. Hastings

RATINGS

Overall: 2.5/ 5 stars

Text Level: Easy

Entertainment: Low

Self-Help: Medium

Page Count: 120

Is this book right for me and my inmate?

This book is for adults working with children dealing with parents that are addicts.

Buy on: Amazon

Review By: Blackbird (Inmate)

Learning to teach children to cope with dramatic upbringings.

I received this book in a class I'm taking and reading it I realized that it could be a very powerful book for anyone looking to work with youth outreach after incarceration. The book primary is a coaching tool for adults trying to provide counseling support to children with addicted parents. Inside the book there are numerous strategies on how to educate kids in dealing with addiction and coping with the traumatic effects it causes. The big message of the book is learning to recognize a life of addiction and begin the discussion so it don't build in secret.

Even though I was not the target of this book I found several parts of it very beneficial for myself. As an inmate I see how not being able to recognize and talk about emotions and feelings has hindered many inmates throughout their life. Yes, this book is written for helping to work with kids, but I see that many of the strategies could benefit current inmates. Many inmates are also addicts themselves so maybe reading this book can serve them by teaching them new ways to help repair the damage they have caused with their own children. The myths that we hold as family groups dealing with difficult things is a very relatable to us all no matter where it has led us. In reading this book it might help break the cycle of incarceration for the next generation.

If you might want to go into counseling for drug and alcohol addiction give this book a try.

Book Quotes

"There probably never was and " ideal" family in the past."

"A dysfunctional family has more pauin and stress than it can cope with."