It's likely that having a child suffering from a serious addiction is one of the few things that can hurt and scare parents nearly as much as losing a child altogether. An addicted child feels like a different person, and assaults the core of how we feel about having done our core job.

But addiction is a complex situation, one our society is only just now beginning to look at from a compassionate, realistic, science-driven perspective. It's hard to know what to do to help prevent a child from going down that dark road, and even harder to know what to do if they're already on it.

Ed Kressy struggled for years with addiction, and psychotic breaks caused by that addiction (or maybe it was vice versa). Since he quit drugs, he has worked tirelessly with individuals, organizations, and law enforcement to help others find the tools they need to enter recovery. He is probably the only man on earth to have both been arrested by the FBI, and to have been given an award by them.

In today's episode, we talk about his journey, and the most important things he learned from it that we as parents, and our adult children, can use to help avoid or survive this potentially tragic life risk.