Episode 12: Alcohol in Our Lives: Questioning Our Own Use & the Impact on Our Kids

Today’s episode started out as a conversation about “gray area drinking” and ended up covering all things alcohol related (and we will likely need to record a part 2!). Dr. Jennifer Benjamin and Jerome Williams from the Philadelphia Child and Family Therapy Training Center joined us to discuss how and why alcohol use increased among adults especially parents, during the pandemic (alcohol consumption rose among adults over age 30 by 14% during the pandemic, with a 41% increase in women heavily drinking), and the impact it can have on parents themselves, and their kids. Chrissie also shares how her own alcohol use changed during the pandemic and how she assessed her relationship with alcohol in early 2021. We also discuss the social and cultural influences that act as “pennies in a jar”, slowly making an impact without us necessarily noticing, and that one does not need to be dependent on a substance to question their relationship with that substance. Dr. Benjamin and Jerome share many resources to access support and ways to consider the environment surrounding alcohol use, in your home and community, and the societal attitude of “it's ok for me because it's ok for you”. This conversation brought up so many great points that truly tap into our favorite saying of “you don't know what you don’t know” and touched on many ways that alcohol can creep into our lives without us even realizing it. Join us!

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Things we mentioned during our conversation:

Chrissie mentioned research showing an increase in alcohol use among adults during the pandemic, especially among women and parents. 

Chrissie talked about an article that talks about “mommy wine culture” and when did it start. 

Dr. Benjamin was our featured speaker in the fall for the Parent Speaker Series event “Being Comfortable in the Uncomfortable: How to Have Tough Conversations with Your Kids”. You can watch the recording HERE.

Bethann shared data from our DASD PAYS data showing most students by 12th grade have observed one or more adults drunk or high. Click here for the full data and these stats are on pg. 81. 

Dr. Benjamin shared the risk of introducing alcohol to an adolescent brain since it is not yet fully developed. To learn more click here and here. 

Chrissie talked about doing a “dry January” reset with her alcohol use in Jan. of 2021. She read “quit lit'' books including (parts of) This Naked Mind and We Are the Luckiest and also listened to some podcasts by Ruby Warrington about being sober curious. Chrissie also followed a few sober curious/dry challenge accounts on instagram: @1000hoursdryparents and @thesobermomlife. 

Jerome and Dr. Benjamin shared tools to use for self assessment and to find support for yourself and/or a loved one:

The Philadelphia Child and Family Therapy Training Center’s mission is to promote the delivery of strength-based, context-sensitive, developmentally-informed mental health training which builds on and supports the emotionally-sustaining relationships of children, adolescents, adults, and their families. PCFTTC provides training, consulting, and education for mental health and other human service professionals. Follow them on Facebook @pcfttc and on Instagram @philafamily. 

You can now follow Chrissie on Instagram @ctc_chrissie or on Facebook @CTCChrissie for info from each episode, Parent to Parent blog updates, and other parent resources.

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Find the episode webpage and previous episodes HERE.

Bethann Cinelli