The Mom of an Addict

04/11/2026

I find it disturbing they are selling this s**t in a v**e smoke shop here in Los Angeles displaying it like it’s candy. This needs to be banned nationally. 😡 😡 😡 🚫 💀

04/09/2026

This evening - April 9. Everyone is welcome!

Our new Mental Wellness Seminar, Let’s Talk About It, begins April 9th at 6:30PM. 🧠

Our first conversation features Missy Blackmer, licensed counselor and mental health coach, speaking on Resilient & Rooted: Building Resilience God’s Way.

This seminar blends biblical truth, nervous system science, and practical tools to help you build real resilience without shame or pressure to “just pray harder.”

You’ll walk away with tools to navigate overwhelm, renew your mind in a healthy way, and build rhythms that actually help you grow.

You don’t have to choose between faith and mental health. 💚

Learn more and RSVP today: https://qrco.de/bgdxOA

03/17/2026

Need a speaker?

03/13/2026

Yes!!!

Red Rocks Amphitheatre is set to host an event in April that doesn’t quite match its usual lineup.

03/11/2026

It is where our family’s recovery story began! 💜

This week as part of our 10 year anniversary, we invite all of you to watch Recovery Boys on Netflix to see the journeys of the first residents of the Ladder.

03/06/2026

01/26/2026

This is an excellent read that I highly rrecommend! “An Acre of Fools” will either give you an insight into what it is like to have a family member addicted or it will have you literally nodding in agreement as you read the words on the pages.

If you’re looking for a good book - this is it!

01/20/2026

The wait is over.
Our proven curriculum is available and easily implemented.

Treatment centers
Churches Communities

Offer family support now.

01/19/2026

New blog post up

January 18, 2026 I tried to write this yesterday but I couldn’t get my fingers to move over the keys. Yesterday. 1.17.2026. I wanted to do a lot of things yesterday, but I spent most of the day locked into quiet introspection instead. What did I want to do?Eat a can of Armour chili.Go bowling.List...

01/06/2026

If you have not heard of Jacob's Ladder at Brookside Farm, here’s an excellent testament to the life-changing work they do each and every day!

The WVFF Board of Directors has approved $1 million through its Direct Funding Model to support the continued growth and sustainability of Jacob's Ladder at Brookside Farm, a nationally recognized residential recovery program based in Aurora, West Virginia.

🔗 Read more here: https://bit.ly/45wn017

📸 𝘞𝘝𝘍𝘍 𝘉𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘧𝘧 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘣’𝘴 𝘓𝘢𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮.

12/23/2025

🔗: https://on.wsj.com/4pPx9hu

Jen Hope knew she’d hit her rock bottom as she sat in an emergency room in 2015 waiting for an update on her son, Jake Burgess.
Hope was five years into trying to care for her son, who had struggled with drug and alcohol addiction since he was 16. She never told anyone because she was ashamed and thought people would think she was a bad mom.

She and her husband had endured years of Jake’s verbal abuse and self-destruction. One night, she hid upstairs with her young daughter as her husband and police tried to calm her furious son outside.

“We always let him come home, thinking that if we gave him a stable place to live and told him how much he was loved and how smart he was, it would make him not want to use,” says Hope, 54, of Fort Wayne, Ind. “But that is not how this disease works.”

Jake did multiple stints in detoxification and rehabilitation centers—and jail—and was homeless at one point. Then in 2017, after a cousin kicked him out, he decided to finally help himself. He googled “addiction treatment work farm,” found one in West Virginia and got sober. College and law school followed. Now he is a personal injury attorney.

Hope went on to found “The Mom of an Addict,” a company that aims to educate and connect parents whose children struggle with addiction. She and Jake, 32, sometimes speak publicly together.

12/20/2025

It is an honor to love and serve others. It was also an honor to be interviewed for this story.

Thank you Elizabeth Bernstein for writing this impactful article, for bringing light to this subject and for helping us speak out to end stigma. No family is immune. (Please read the article all the way to the end.)

Thank you to my son Jake for working hard and being the example that your past does not define your future!r

Parents of addicts face an impossible choice: Offer help and risk enabling their child’s behavior, or sever ties and maybe lose them forever.