Gisela Rausch-Teichmann says:
“On a bright day in 2016, something happened that I would no longer have thought possible: my son got married. And he was happy! I cried.
He started using drugs when he was 16 or 17. There was a smell of weed in his room, I found a hookah. When asked about it, he downplayed everything. However, when he collapsed at school, I became very worried.
He slipped deeper and deeper into addiction and lived on the streets for a time. In my desperation, I found support in a parent group and learned that I can only help if my child is ready. I consciously tried to do something for myself – played Doppelkopf, danced tango. Sometimes I didn’t hear from him for months. Then I looked for him, hoping to find him alive.
My son took heroin for the first time when he was in his early 20s. Friends brought him to us, he vomited his heart out for three days. Later he just said: ‘The kick was worth it.’ I was stunned.
Sometimes he was imprisoned for unpaid fines. He got involved in therapy through the probation service, but kept relapsing – until the fifth long-term therapy: Then my son called me and said he had met someone on the Internet.
His girlfriend and her family accepted my son unconditionally. It was truly a miracle. Little by little I was able to let go of my worries.
Of course, my heart still pounds when he shows up late for appointments. But then the only problem is its unreliability or a dead battery. He’s fine.”
Gisela Rausch-Teichmann tells more in the book Why Tobias? Tobias, why?
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