Parents of Addicted Loved Ones

Facilitator training and retention - PAL grows when a peer parent decides to volunteer to help others by starting a new PAL meeting. At the end of 2022, we had ### active facilitators. Of those, ## were trained and newly certified in 2022. Initial training is offered online. New and existing facilitators also had access to specialized virtual training on topics including adapting when the individual with SUD is a minor (the program is targeted to parents of adults) and on the special issues faced by grandparent when the loved one with an addiction has children. Videos and other resources are also available to facilitators in an online portal.

Meetings -Volunteer facilitators offering meetings require signage, meeting materials such as lessons, videos, books and reference materials to offer the meetings. Meeting rooms are sought free of charge. Meeting expenses include purchasing, designing, preparing, printing as well as shipping materials to new and existing meetings and insurance. At the end of 2022, there were ### local in-person meetings, # national online meetings including one in Spanish, and ## local online meetings throughout the United States. People from all States and several countries outside the U.S. access PAL meetings and online materials.

Public Awareness - Parents often, due to feelings of shame, do not reach out to family or friends to share or seek help with the challenges they are experiencing related to their loved one suffering through addiction. Raising awareness of these free support meetings is critical to parents finding this resource that will help them develop new approaches to helping and in their relationship with their loved one. Most outreach activities including social media and online advertising, printing and distributing pamphlets and other printed materials, and contractors performing outreach to entities (health, public safety, treatment and other professionals) are funded through grants.