The alcoholic family : pastoral conversations with adult children unravelling the web of identity

Abstract

This participatory research journey looked at the lives of adult children of alcoholics, with particular reference to how identity is affected by growing up in a home where one or both parents are struggling with alcohol abuse, and how this struggle with identity carries through into adulthood. A study was made of the particular discourses which impacted negatively upon the child from this home and the manner in which the discourses had a negative impact later on as an adult. Through narrative pastoral conversations the possibilities for healing, as well as the barriers for healing were explored. Through this exploration alternative stories were created. A vital part of the study was focused upon the witnessing of the stories of the participants` lives and the acknowledgement of some of the events from their childhood that formed their identity and contributed to who they are today.