A Family Guide to Addiction: The Map Nobody Gave You

When someone you love is trapped in addiction, it can feel like you’re walking through chaos without a map. Families are often left confused, exhausted, and unsure what to do next — trying everything they can think of, only to feel like nothing works.

In A Family Guide to Addiction, Peter Lyndon-James draws on more than 15 years of frontline experience working with addicts and their families through Shalom House. In his straight-talking, practical style, he explains how addiction really works, why many common approaches fail, and what families can do to stop unintentionally enabling the cycle.

The book introduces Peter’s A–E Model, a framework designed to help families better understand the stages of addiction and guide them toward the right kind of professional help when it’s needed most.

This is not a book about controlling someone else’s choices — because you can’t. Instead, it’s a clear, honest guide to understanding addiction, protecting your family, and knowing what steps are actually worth taking.

For families facing addiction, this is the map many wish they had been given years earlier.