EP: 011 | You Can’t Parent Your Child Out of Addiction, Here’s What Actually Works with Christopher Doyle

When your child is spiraling into addiction, the first instinct is to hold on tighter: plead, negotiate, or wait for them to “hit bottom.” 

But what if those instincts are exactly what are keeping your child in danger? What if addiction isn’t about waiting for readiness, but about stepping in before the fire spreads?

As parents, we often believe we’re failing when our kids won’t accept help. We blame ourselves, soften boundaries, or hope things will change on their own. 

But that thinking is not only wrong, it’s dangerous. Addiction is defined by one simple truth: can’t stop. And someone who can’t stop doesn’t suddenly wake up one morning and choose recovery. They keep going until something or someone interrupts the cycle. Without intervention, the trajectory almost always gets worse, not better.

Christopher Doyle knows this from experience, both as someone who battled addiction from a young age and now after decades of helping hundreds of families pull their loved ones back from the brink. 

His method flips the script on everything we’ve been told about “waiting until they’re ready” and shows parents how to intervene early, with clarity, compassion, and boundaries that stick.

How do you know you have an addiction issue on your hands? What actually gets someone to accept help? 

In this conversation, Chris breaks down the myths that keep families paralyzed, the role of parents in creating leverage for change, and why setting boundaries when your child is in pain is the most loving act you can do.

🌱 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

  • Boundaries are love, not rejection
    Most parents fear that tough boundaries will push their child further away. Can boundaries be the very thing that creates the turning point?

  • Hitting bottom is a myth
    We’re told addicted kids will “ask for help when they’re ready.” But if addiction means can’t stop, why is waiting for the bottom often a fatal mistake?

  • The fire analogy of addiction
    Addiction doesn’t need to be a five-alarm blaze before action. What happens when families learn to respond to smoke, not flames?

  • Parents aren’t the convincers
    Trying to persuade your child that they have a problem often backfires. How can parents clear the path to connect their child with people who can break through the denial?

✨ Resources & Next Steps

✔️ Join the Bad Mom Community for more conversations like this here.

✔️
Share this episode with a parent who is looking for a reset.

 ✔️ Follow Christopher Doyle
Visit
whyintervention.com to learn more or to work with Chris.

Chris on Instagram

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