What entails alcohol counseling and what are the benefits of this type of counseling? Does it work for everyone? Read here to learn how my friend with alcoholism used counseling to help with his alcohol addiction.
So how can counseling for alcohol addiction help?
I can no longer count the number of times my friends and I had a virtual alcohol drinking party. Virtual alcohol drinking party. We played some party songs while chatting and drinking alcohol until one of us passed out.
In all fairness, most of those alcohol drinking events were fun even if we could not be in the same place together. My friends and I never ran out of things to laugh about and alcohol. Thanks to them, I did not feel anxious much about the COVID-19 pandemic.
The thing was, I could not say the same for my friend Jasper.
It Is All About Jasper’s Alcohol Story During Alcohol Counseling
The problem with Jasper was that he had an unshakeable habit of overthinking. I kept reminding him how smart he was – that I could study hard and still not reach his level – but it did not do much.
The Goal After College Graduation
After college graduation, everyone’s goal was to find a stable job, of course. I encouraged Jasper to do the same, but he refused to do so. Even his parents could not persuade him, so they merely gave him capital for any business that he wanted to put up.
If there was anything that Jasper was confident about, it was his cooking skills.
He did not attend classes for that – he was born with an incredible sense of taste. In truth, Jasper only needed to get one bite of a dish, and he could replicate it. Hence, it did not surprise me when his restaurant became jam-packed from its launch date.
Jasper’s Alcoholic Problems
Everyone saw Jasper’s happiness for a while. He walked with his head held up high; he always had a confident smile on his lips. It was like my friend became the man he was meant to be.
Unfortunately, when the pandemic happened, Jasper was forced to shut down his restaurant. It was only temporary due to the statewide lockdown, but it bothered Jasper so much that he confessed to drinking alcohol every day, even if we were not having a virtual alcohol drinking party.
Jasper’s mood improved a little after the lockdown because he got to open his business again.
But then, two of Jasper’s employees contracted the coronavirus. While Jasper knew that he did not catch it, he had to stop the business operations one more time depressed him a lot. That’s when he stopped attending our virtual alcohol drinking parties and always gave lousy excuses for why he could not come.
Learning About Jasper’s Struggles With Alcoholism During The Counseling Sessions
You might ask, “How did you know all this if you only did virtual alcohol drinking parties?”
After a few months, no one could contact Jasper, so we decided to surprise him.
However, we were more shocked than surprised when we opened the front door, and the smell of alcohol hit our noses. The entire living room reeked of beer and alcohol.
When one of our friends flicked the light switch on, I let out a loud gasp as I saw Jasper on the floor, passed out, and laying on his vomit.
While the boys carried him to the bathroom to clean and sober him up, the girls started fixing the rest of the first floor. There was not much trash to throw away, but there were cases of empty alcoholic beers at the back. If you saw how high the piles were, you would wonder if there was a party in Jasper’s backyard every night. But no – he drank all that.
Once the boys returned with Jasper, he seemed to be half-asleep when he asked, “When did you all get here?”
Alcohol Counseling
Though alcohol helps with anxiety sometimes, we wasted no time doing alcoholism counseling with Jasper. He was wasting away from alcohol – everyone could see how alcohol is consuming him. We had no choice but to conduct alcohol counseling, considering we knew it would take forever before he trusted a real alcohol counseling expert.
Keeping Up With Alcohol Counseling For My Friend Jasper
Every day, we made it our task to visit Jasper at home to see how he is handling counseling for his use of alcohol. There was not a lot on our agenda; our common goal was to make him less lonely and not drink alcohol. And when Jasper’s restaurant opened again, we were all back in the kitchen to support him. Little by little, our efforts and counseling paid off. He doesn’t drink alcohol anymore. He even agreed to try counseling for alcoholism and end his alcohol dependence.
Will you help your friend deal with their alcohol addiction?
There may be more harm in NOT trying counseling for alcohol dependence.