Why a Man in Long-Term Recovery Wrote a Book for Families
Michael J. Wilson Jr. wrote Loving Lions from both sides of addiction: as the person families were trying to save, and as the professional who now helps them. Here is why that matters.
Both sides of the same story
Most people who write about addiction have stood on one side of it. Michael J. Wilson Jr. has stood on both. He lived through active addiction, the years his own family spent frightened and confused, and he found his way into long-term recovery. Then he built a career helping other families through the same fire. Loving Lions came out of that rare double vantage point.
Why he wrote it for families, not addicts
There is no shortage of material aimed at the person who is using. What Wilson kept seeing was the group nobody was writing for: the families. They were doing everything they could think of, and much of it was quietly making things worse, not because they did not love enough but because they were loving in a way that addiction had learned to exploit.
He wrote the book he wished his own family had been handed. It does not shame families for enabling. It explains why enabling feels like love, why it backfires, and what to do instead.
From personal experience to professional practice
Wilson's recovery did not end with his own sobriety. He went on to build treatment and family-support work around the same convictions, and to help train the professionals who guide families through intervention. The book, the family guidance, and that professional work all carry one idea: meet addiction honestly, and give the family real tools instead of platitudes.
That through-line connects to his broader work in behavioral health, including the family and intervention services at East Point Behavioral Health and professional intervention training through Credable Learning. The audience changes; the core belief does not.
What it means for your family
An author who has been the lion, and who has since spent years helping families love one well, is not writing from theory. That is the reason Loving Lions reads the way it does: unsentimental about the disease, and deeply respectful of the people trying to survive loving someone who has it.
Keep reading
Loving a Lion, Not a House Cat: A New Way to Understand Addiction in Your Family
Addiction turns the person you love into something the old love no longer works on. The Loving Lions framework explains why, and gives families an honest place to start.
What's Inside Loving Lions: A Guide for Families Struggling With Addiction
Loving Lions is a field guide for families living with a loved one's addiction. Here is what the book covers and how families actually use it.
What Is Dual Diagnosis? Why Addiction and Mental Health Have to Be Treated Together
When addiction and a mental health condition occur together, treating one while ignoring the other rarely holds. Dual diagnosis care treats both at once. Here is what that means, why it works, and what to look for in a program.
Inside a Day Treatment Program: What a Typical Day in PHP Looks Like
Day treatment, also called a partial hospitalization program or PHP, is the most intensive care available while still sleeping at home. Here is how a typical day is structured and who it fits.
Behavioral Health Updates is an independent industry publication published by vProGo.