Sibling estrangement can create grief like no other, especially when addiction is part of the equation. In this episode, Fern Schumer Chapman, journalist and author of Brothers, Sisters, Strangers and The Sibling Estrangement Journal, opens up about her 40-year estrangement from her brother and the profound emotional toll it took on her.

Fern’s story offers a raw look at the pain and complexities of sibling relationships affected by addiction. She shares how setting boundaries, in the face of addiction, sometimes means cutting ties—and the unique grief that comes with that decision. Whether you’re navigating your own estrangement or just seeking to understand the dynamics at play, Fern provides practical advice for coping with the heartache, finding healing, and ultimately, reclaiming peace.

If you’ve ever struggled with family dynamics shaped by addiction or the loss of a sibling relationship, this episode is for you.

This episode may help you:

Join our sibling-focused community: Siblings For Love of Recovery

Connect with FLOR: Instagram and TikTok

About our guest: Fern Schumer Chapman, author and journalist

Buy Fern’s books here:

Feeling torn between “tough love” and showing support? What if the answer is not choosing between helping or detaching, but finding a balance? In this episode, Molly Sinclair, takes us through her journey of navigating her mom’s, her brother’s, and her own addiction with empathy and boundaries. Molly explains evidence-based tools like the Invitation to Change approach, whether you should let someone hit “rock-bottom” and other insights to help you start the new year with clarity and compassion.

This episode may help you:

Join our sibling-focused community: Siblings For Love of Recovery

Connect with FLOR:

Our guest speaker: Molly Sinclair

Family addiction can bring holiday stress, uncertainty, heartbreak, and tension to what’s supposed to be a joyful season. If gatherings feel overwhelming as you're navigating a loved one’s substance use (especially a sibling's), you're not alone.

Minaa B., licensed social worker, mental health educator, and author of Owning Our Struggles, shares how to set boundaries, prioritize self-care, and protect your peace amidst the chaos. Because even in difficult times, you deserve a peaceful holiday season celebrated in a way that works best for you.

This episode may help you:

Join our sibling-focused community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1001711494318102 

Connect with FLOR:

Our guest speaker, Minaa B:

What happens to a family when a loved one's addiction leads to homelessness? And what does it take to reach someone who seems completely unreachable?

Kevin F. Adler lost his uncle to decades of homelessness and addiction — and turned that grief into a movement. In this episode, he shares what families misunderstand about loved ones experiencing homelessness, why isolation is the real driver of addiction, and why connection — not tough love — is what actually creates change.

If you've ever felt like your loved one is beyond reach, this episode will challenge everything you thought you knew.

Topics: addiction and homelessness, how to help a loved one with addiction, isolation and substance use, family and addiction recovery, tough love vs. connection.

This episode may help you:

• Understand how using person-first language can shift perspectives and reduce the stigma around addiction.

• Recognize the barriers—societal, health, and systemic—that make finding housing so tough.

• Find ways to strengthen and sustain healthy connections with loved ones facing these challenges.

• See the impact of timely support and genuine connection in helping someone move toward recovery and stable housing.

Join our sibling-focused community

• Connect with other siblings

• Share your own story in a safe space

• Support for navigating the journey

• Join here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠Siblings for Love of Recovery⁠⁠

  
  

Connect with FLOR

• Instagram: ⁠⁠@forloveofrecovery⁠⁠

• Facebook: ⁠⁠For Love of Recovery⁠⁠

• TikTok: ⁠⁠@forloveofrecovery⁠⁠

  
  

Our guest speaker

• About: Kevin Adler

• Kevin’s book: When We Walk By

Teen drinking or drug use may start off with curiosity or peer pressure, but it often goes beyond that. In this episode, we uncover the connection between undiagnosed ADHD and substance use—a surprising link that’s often missed but affects nearly half of adolescents in drug and alcohol treatment.

Learn how to spot the signs of both conditions, and discover how families can support loved ones struggling with these challenges. We'll also provide practical tips for treatment, management and building strong support systems.

This episode may help you:

OUR SIBLING-FOCUSED COMMUNITY

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OUR GUEST SPEAKER

If you've watched The Bear and felt something crack open in your chest during the "Fishes" episode — you're not alone.

Season 2 of The Bear portrays sibling grief, family dysfunction, and the long shadow of addiction in a way that most TV never does. In this episode, therapist Asha Hunter unpacks what the Berzatto family gets right about sibling bonds, unspoken trauma, and the way addiction reshapes every relationship in a family.

Whether you're a fan of the show or not, this episode will help you see your own family dynamic more clearly.

Topics: addiction and family trauma, sibling grief, family dysfunction, The Bear TV show addiction, sibling bonds and mental health.

This episode may help you:

• Understand the disruption addiction brings to family dynamics
• Recognize the power and fragility of sibling bonds in dysfunctional environments
• Learn how guilt affects both those struggling with addiction and their family members
• Empathize with people who are fearful of disappointing their loved ones

FYI: This episode is full of spoiler alerts if you haven’t yet watched The Bear’s “Fishes” episode.

FACEBOOK GROUP: Siblings For Love of Recovery

* Connect with other siblings

* Share your own story in a safe space

* Support for navigating the journey

> Join here: Siblings for Love of Recovery

CONNECT WITH FOR LOVE OF RECOVERY

* Instagram: @forloveofrecovery

* Facebook: For Love of Recovery

* TikTok: @forloveofrecovery

✅ SUBSCRIBE SO YOU DON’T MISS ANY EPISODES

> Subscribe: For Love of Recovery

WATCH "FISHES" EPISODE & HIGHLIGHTS:

> Watch ‘Fishes’ on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/the-bear-05eb6a8e-90ed-4947-8c0b-e6536cbddd5f 

> Watch Carmy and Mikey’s emotional conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNDrlgmS3z8&t=7s 

> Watch the fork-throwing scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nxQ9TZ0ZtI&t=34s 

> Watch Carmy open up at the NA meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fjITOkFnnE&t=22s 

In families affected by addiction, everyone plays a role — whether they realize it or not. The hero who keeps everything together. The scapegoat who takes the blame. The lost child who goes quiet. The rescuer who can't stop fixing.

Licensed therapist and sibling John Varsam breaks down the most common family roles in addiction, how they develop, and how they follow us into adulthood — affecting our relationships, our boundaries, and our sense of self.

If you've ever wondered why your family responds to addiction the way it does, this episode will give you a framework that finally makes sense.

Topics: family roles in addiction, enabler vs. supporter, family dysfunction, sibling of an addict, how addiction affects the whole family.

This episode will help you:

• Understand what the roles in a dysfunctional family often are

• Identify the roles in your family 

• Feel empowered to make a change

FACEBOOK GROUP: Siblings For Love of Recovery

* Connect with other siblings

* Share your own story in a safe space

* Support for navigating the journey

> Join here: Siblings for Love of Recovery

CONNECT WITH FOR LOVE OF RECOVERY

* Instagram: @forloveofrecovery

* Facebook: For Love of Recovery

* TikTok: @forloveofrecovery

JOHN VARSAM

About: https://jvpsychotherapy.com/about/ 

KARPMAN’S DRAMA TRIANGLE, EXPLAINED:

https://www.bringthedonuts.com/essays/the-drama-triangle/⁠

*This essay breaks down the Drama Triangle in a super digestible way, and is designed for business coaching, but the analysis still applies* 

Recognizing when helping is actually doing more harm than good can be confusing when a loved one is misusing drugs or alcohol. Sibling relationships can be even more complicated depending on age differences and whether there’s a natural desire to support one another.

This episode dives into what those raw and complex emotions look like for one sister, Gillian. She opens up about her journey with a younger sister battling alcohol dependence, how their childhood dynamic evolved into adulthood, the challenges of setting boundaries, and ultimately, how she found a way to support her sister while prioritizing her own well-being.

Hear how Gillian rediscovered how to help her sister and learned the power of building boundaries to prioritize her own wellbeing. 

This episode can help you:

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FACEBOOK GROUP: Siblings For Love of Recovery

* Connect with other siblings

* Share your own story in a safe space

* Support for navigating the journey

> Join here:⁠ Siblings for Love of Recovery⁠

🤳CONNECT WITH FOR LOVE OF RECOVERY

* Instagram: ⁠@forloveofrecovery⁠

* Facebook: ⁠For Love of Recovery⁠

* TikTok: ⁠@forloveofrecovery⁠

If you have a sibling struggling with addiction, you know how isolating it feels — like no one around you truly understands what you're going through.

For Love of Recovery is a podcast for siblings and families navigating a loved one's substance use. Host and founder Dominique Dajer shares why she started this show, what her brother's addiction taught her about boundaries, enabling, and unconditional love — and what you can expect from every episode.

Whether you're in the thick of it or learning to rebuild — this is your starting point.

Topics: sibling addiction, family recovery, substance use, how to help a brother or sister with addiction.

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FACEBOOK GROUP: Siblings For Love of Recovery

* Connect with other siblings

* Share your own story in a safe space

* Support for navigating the journey

> Join here: Siblings for Love of Recovery

🤳CONNECT WITH FOR LOVE OF RECOVERY

* Instagram: @forloveofrecovery

* Facebook: For Love of Recovery

* TikTok: @forloveofrecovery

DOWNLOAD OUR FREE SIBLING E-BOOK:

* 6 actions to help navigate your sibling's substance use journey