The Addiction Inoculation

Raising Healthy Kids in a Culture of Dependence

By: Jessica Lahey

Narrated by: Jessica Lahey

“The Addiction Inoculation is a vital look into best practices parenting. Writing as a teacher, a mother, and, as it happens, a recovering alcoholic, Lahey's stance is so compassionate, her advice so smart, any and all parents will benefit from her hard-won wisdom.” (Peggy Orenstein, author of Girls & Sex and Boys & Sex)

In this supportive, life-saving resource, the New York Times best-selling author of The Gift of Failure helps parents and educators understand the roots of substance abuse and identify who is most at risk for addiction, and offers practical steps for prevention.

Jessica Lahey was born into a family with a long history of alcoholism and drug abuse. Despite her desire to thwart her genetic legacy, she became an alcoholic and didn’t find her way out until her early 40s. Jessica has worked as a teacher in substance abuse programs for teens, and was determined to inoculate her two adolescent sons against their most dangerous inheritance. All children, regardless of their genetics, are at some risk for substance abuse. According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, teen drug addiction is the nation’s largest preventable and costly health problem. Despite the existence of proven preventive strategies, nine out of 10 adults with substance use disorder report they began drinking and taking drugs before age 18.

The Addiction Inoculation is a comprehensive resource parents and educators can use to prevent substance abuse in children. Based on research in child welfare, psychology, substance abuse, and developmental neuroscience, this essential guide provides evidence-based strategies and practical tools adults need to understand, support, and educate resilient, addiction-resistant children. The guidelines are age-appropriate and actionable - from navigating a child’s risk for addiction, to interpreting signs of early abuse, to advice for broaching difficult conversations with children.

The Addiction Inoculation is an empathetic, accessible resource for anyone who plays a vital role in children’s lives - parents, teachers, coaches, or pediatricians - to help them raise kids who will grow up healthy, happy, and addiction-free.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Jessica Lahey (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

A Must-Read/Listen For All Caring Adults

If you are a parent, educator, or coach of elementary, middle school, or high school children, you must read (or listen to) this book. It’s full of the latest data and science on substance usage (and abuse) among children and also tools and messaging to help you to keep the kids in your life as informed and safe as possible. Information is power, so load up on Jess Lahey’s latest. You’ll be surprised by what you learn and grateful that you did.

Insightful, practical, wish I read it years ago

I had an alcoholic parent and a child who struggled but overcame a drug issue (still clean today). I learned so much. I could have dealt with both better had I read this years ago. It is easily understood and everyone, especially parents, should read it.

A roadmap for any parent

Parents are constantly reminded that their actions can inexorably result in ruining their child’s lives. The worry of having such an impact can often feel overwhelming - am I doing the right thing? Am I doing enough? The questions are endless.

The Addiction Inoculation is the Rand McNally for parents seeking a roadmap for raising healthy, happy, and successful children - whether the parent suffers from substance use disorder or not. As a parent of two, with as many years of sobriety, the book instills confidence that I can undermine any negative affect my substance abuse may have had on my children. The book lays out the facts, their decisive impact, and lays out a path for concrete things parents can do and watch out for.

A must read!!

Excellent book, thank you!! It really spells everything out and provides so much great info to understand and provide pause for a teen in those moments. After I read it, I paid my teen to read too!!

A must for parents, educators, and caregivers

Jessica Lahey, does the heavy lifting for you. Her extensive research on this subject is compiled and put into easy to read, or listen to, actionable advice. The book covers ages from preschool through college.

Whether you are reading or listening you will find this book interesting and engaging with real evidence based information.

Chapters are organized in a way you can read it from beginning to the end or skip through the chapters that are most relevant to you. However, you’ll enjoy it and want to read the entire book.

It is not an anti alcohol but instead discusses how parents and all adults can emphasize healthy choices.

Every educator should be reading this book and learning how schools can implement the right drug and alcohol interventions, coping strategies, social and emotional lessons.

This book, along with Jessica’s previous book “The Gift of Failure” should be on the top of the list of parenting handbooks.

A must-read book for all parents

I’m a recovering alcoholic and drug addict who comes from a family of addicts, with nearly 9 years sober and a 12-year-old son, one of my biggest fears is that he’ll struggle with addiction. There are many books that talk about prevention methods and communication styles with your children to help them avoid substance abuse, but Jessica Lahey by far has written one of the best books I’ve read on the subject. I’ve worked in a dual diagnosis treatment center and have a mental health YouTube channel, and with so much pseudoscience and nonsense out there, I really look for books and suggestions that are evidence-based, and that’s exactly what Jessica Lahey provides in this book. Although there were some studies I had read about before, Jessica not only introduced me to new ones, but she also has a unique perspective on what the research means and how we it can help our children.

From the start of the book, I really connected with Jessica’s personal story of addiction and sobriety as well as her fears of her own children struggling with addiction. Jessica is not only a teacher, but she helps young people struggling with substance abuse so she has a ton of experience. In this book, she covers every important angle when it comes to addiction in young people. She discusses risk factors such as genetics and home environment, and then she dives into a ton of different proven strategies for parents to connect with their children and have authentic conversations around substance use. Later, she explains why traditional prevention methods like D.A.R.E. failed and what the research teaches us about how young people need proper social and emotional learning both at home and in schools.

Whether you’re a parent, an aunt or uncle, a grandparent, a teacher, a doctor, or anyone who might interact with young people at some point in your life, you need to read this book. I got sober in 2012, and the addiction epidemic hasn’t slowed down. It takes a group effort and amazing books like this one from Jessica Lahey to educate ourselves and end this crisis that we’ve been dealing with for decades.

Must read!

This might be just about the most useful addiction/parenting resource that I have ever found. I'll be recommending it to every parent that I know.