Before we met Andrea, we had reached the ends of our parenting skills and 12 step program methods to deal with our son’s substance abuse disorder. After our son had a near death opioid overdose, we met Andrea through a contact with his recovery center. For us, Andrea is an advisor, coach, educator, and advocate.

 

From our first session, Andrea instilled confidence and hope in how to parent our son in our post trauma phase of his substance use recovery. She grounded us on caring but firm principles, and set “guard rails” to parent our son by, which we never had before.

 

As advisor and coach, she provides us communication tools and new thinking that have helped us to interact, support and guide our son in a caring and yet firm manner. The tools and principles she reinforces are helping us change from helpless, struggling parents to executive decision makers in our household.

 

Andrea is a prolific and adept writer – when we are struggling to communicate a key decision or give new direction to our son, she either drafts or helps us craft, the communication. She pushes our issues forward by showing us how to face the next steps, so decisions and actions don’t linger. Andrea educates us by citing studies that back up the advice, approaches, and decisions we are making in working with our son. She points us to self study materials, including online video lessons, and helpful books and articles.

 

As an advocate, we’ve experienced several difficult situations with our son during his stay in the recovery center and Andrea helped us work with the staff to get our son the attention he needs but also help us drive our son to take ownership for his own recovery. Andrea is always accessible and energetic in responding to our calls for help. In addition to our weekly sessions, she’s always only a phone call or text away from providing us support and advice.

 

Most importantly, Andrea’s service to us is intensely caring and comes from her heart.  She openly shares her own experiences in managing the challenges of family substance use disorders. She calms us with reassuring emotional, moral support, and humor! She reinforces the importance of self care. We feel we are all on one team to help our son.

 

Results: We believe the only reason our son in still in sober living and on a positive track today is because Andrea has guided us and helped us from making pivotal mistakes. Andrea has helped us develop as parents. We’ve progressed from a condition of struggling and enabling, to being capable and grounded in guiding our son. Andrea has our back…

 

Greg and Lisa K. Atlanta, GA
 

 

My daughter had been to treatment and sober living down in orange county. After 3 months, she left against medical advice, she overdosed the day she left and survived. Then she began living on the street, getting into trouble and went to jail multiple times. I didn’t understand much about addiction or the recovery process and why shed left treatment. I felt so hopeless and angry and I felt like giving up

 

That’s when I started working with Andrea and the team at FUFR. Andrea gave me concrete actions I could take that gave me power over my emotions and the situation and kept me moving forward. She taught me how to get over the anger, judgement and bitterness and focus on calming my mind. This helped me change the way I was reacting to my daughter and helped me avoid pushing my daughter further away. We started to connect again heart to heart. Today my daughter has 14 months in recovery.

 

Andrea has been a lifesaver for me and my family.  She taught me how to get calm and how to navigate the treacherous road of being a single mom parenting a heroin addict who suffers from dual diagnosis and has held my hand every step of the way.  At the same time, I have improved my relationships with my other kids, my boyfriend and my boss. I am so grateful to have my life, my daughter and my family back.

 

Georgette King, Agoura, CA

 

From Georgettes Daughter:

 

My mom’s been working with Andrea now for over a year.  The transformation has been remarkable. Not only in my mom, in the way we interact and communicate, but also through me and my life.

 

I was active in my addiction when my mom first started working with Andrea. I was resentful, dishonest, and afraid and had completely lost hope in myself and in my life. The dynamic of our relationship changed INSTANTLY when my mom implemented what she had learned. For the first time in my life I wasn’t being talked at. I was being listened to. The interaction and feelings were completely different, which made me then want to treat her better. Watching her set and hold boundaries, love instead of enable, and accept rather than misunderstand attracted to me to getting my life back

 

Andrea and my Mom have been the backbone of my recovery and I cannot fully express my gratitude for the magic they worked together. Today I am happier, more joyous, and freer than I have ever been. Andrea and Mom, thank you for a whole new world beyond my wildest dreams. Every single day you show up for me encourages me to show up for myself. And, what has transpired is such a beautiful, abundant, and full life that I get to share with others.

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Melia King, Los Angeles, CA
 

I wanted to send you some extra gratitude for everything you've done for us. While I wish more of our family members had embraced their own sides of the work, the support you've given to Mark, me, and my mom has been INCREDIBLE.

 

My relationship with my mom has completely transformed. Even just 6 months ago, I never could have imagined connecting with her again with this much safety and understanding. 

 

I've also been able to connect with my sister more easily since she gave birth. I'm hopeful that our shared love for little Claire will help us continue to heal.

 

And of course, your help with navigating my relationship with my in-laws, as well as how those relationships impact my marriage, has made some really hard situations so much more manageable. Mark and I have really solid communication these days, and your support has played a huge part in that!

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Lauren R, Denver Colorado

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I am very grateful for all that Andrea is doing for me, my family and especially grateful that my wife has Andrea for support. I feel motivated by her profound sense of purpose and ability to shed light, inspire and give hope in extremely difficult situations.

 

She has helped me see the light, given me strength and guidance to move forward as both a father and a husband. I have had great emotional breakthroughs and insights into my own life that have been transformative on many levels.

 

Andrea has introduced our family to an amazing team of professionals who are helping our us make great progress in our recovery. Our communication has improved significantly as well as our relationships. She is truly a godsend and I feel very fortunate to have her on my team.

 

Mark Bashforth, Houston, TX
 

 

Andrea is an angel on earth. She has given me hope that healthy Recovery for my family WILL happen. During a recent relapse, I started working with Andrea in an effort to reconnect with my daughter who had been through tremendous trauma and addicted to opiods and alcohol. Many people in the recovery world told me to focus on myself and let my daughter suffer the consequences of bad choices. Instead, during this crisis, Andrea walked me through the steps to quickly reconnect with my daughter.

 

Without Andrea’s coaching my daughter would most likely still be entrapped in a dangerous life threatening environment. She taught me how to use my words to open the door to nonjudgmental communication. Over the last three weeks, with Andrea’s guidance during every text conversation I had with my daughter, she showed me how to use language to be the most loving mother possible even when a part of me wanted to scold and control as I had before.

As a result I was able to connect with and empower my daughter to choose actions that led her off of the street and into to the right treatment center.

 

I know that because of Andrea’s coaching my daughter is alive and safe. Andrea is compassionate and smart. I know that she will continue to help us navigate our Recovery journey as we move forward in a healthy, positive direction. My daughter and I are grateful for the Light Of Hope that she has given to our lives.

 

Beth D, NJ
 

Working with Andrea has been a God send. Being a 51 year old woman, I was at a crossroads in my life of finding “me” and learning how to forgive myself. The sincerity and patience with which she was able to move me through life changes, such as dealing with past traumas as a teenager that has plagued me for 37 years, to dealing with my 20 year old son’s active drug addiction/treatment has been invaluable.

 

The tools she has given me has helped me learn to love myself, and stay in the present. Progress, not perfection is how I live my life today. I will be forever grateful for her guidance.

 

Tracy E. Ward, Jeffersonville, IN
 

Andrea has taught me habits for creating a sense of inner calm and confidence as well as communication strategies that led to the ending of my daily bickering and arguing with my boyfriend of 9 months which was causing him to pull back and shy away from a commitment.
My boyfriend and I now communicate like adults, (most of the time!) without all the drama and emotion.  Last month, I got a journal from him with a timeline for our engagement and wedding date!

 

Andrea is quick to respond to my texts when issues do come up for me and is a great sounding board providing insight and effective tools to overcome challenges when they do come up.

 

Lauren B. LVN, Brentwood, CA
 

Andrea is such a positive upbeat person to have as a coach. She has helped me to view many issues in alternate ways that do not “flood” me.  We have worked on some great tools and charts to bring more calm.  Learning to respond rather than react. She has guided me in healthy ways to take care of myself first. I would highly recommend Andrea.

 

Stacey from PA

Andrea helped me to deepen and expand my sense of self and to set healthy emotional boundaries in my relationships. When I began working with Andrea, I tended to feel responsible for others’ feelings.

 

Her ability to listen beyond what I say, and to get the heart of the matter, is unparalleled. I am grateful to Andrea for helping me to heal my relationship with myself, which has helped me to enjoy healthier and happier relationships with others.

 

Janell Kaplan, Louisville, KY

In one session with Andrea I was able to gain an understanding of the necessary communication strategies and create a plan. Within two months, my boyfriend of three years who had been procrastinating about marriage, asked me to marry him and presented me with a beautiful engagement ring.

Monica E., Westlake Village, CA