Executive Director of the Office of Juvenile Affairs

Executive Director of Possibilities, Inc.

Since 2014 when the Children's Program was brought to Oklahoma, 488 children & teens have graduated from the intensive program. *updated 3.13.23

100% of children who graduated from the Children's Program in 2022 learned addiction is a disease and they did not cause it.

One-in-four US children is growing up in a family with drug or alcohol addiction.  As a result of genetics and their experiences, they are eight times more likely to struggle with addiction themselves.
Peaceful Family Oklahoma is a nonprofit agency founded to break the cycle of addiction in families. This starts one child  and  family at a time.
 Children are often hurt most by this disease, yet treatment programs are usually designed exclusively for the adult.
Peaceful Family Oklahoma was founded to help the children of addiction and is the only organization in Oklahoma focused solely on helping  children of parents with addiction heal. Using proven strategies that help children to play their way to understanding and health,  Peaceful Family Oklahoma has become a critical service for foster care, justice-involved individuals and grandparents raising grandkids. Peaceful Family Solutions is an affiliate of the National Association for Children of Addiction and partner organization of the Partnership to End Addiction.

Peaceful Family Oklahoma provides free child-centered programs to children ages 4-18 and their caregivers. We offer the only peer-to-peer program in Oklahoma specifically designed to help children affected by addiction in their families.  
Children are introduced to treatment and recovery, while their grown-ups receive tools to become better caregivers and strengthen their relationship with their kids.
By creating a positive, safe and fun environment with other kids in their same situations, we provide a chance for children to just be "kids," not burdened by the adult worries and responsibilities they may have taken on at home.
Through activities like games, icebreakers, play and recreation, children learn key concepts such as:

• their parent's addiction is a disease and is not their fault, 
• all feelings are okay, and,
• a child's job is to be a kid.

We also provide continuing care opportunities that allows the children and caregivers to reconnect with fellow participants and continue to develop healthy coping skills.

Most treatment programs focus on helping the person with the disease recover from addiction. Peaceful Family Oklahoma focuses on the CHILDREN impacted by the disease.
Peaceful Family Oklahoma builds upon children's strengths and deepens their resilience. Participating with peers helps kids realize:

• they are not alone, 
• it is not their fault, and,
• they are not to blame.

We provide a safe and age-appropriate setting for children to express and explore their feelings. Caregivers are welcomed without judgment and acknowledged for having the strength and courage to give their child the gift of healing. Peaceful Family Oklahoma's curriculum was developed by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and has been used in Hazelden Betty Ford Clinics for more than 20 years. It is evidence-based and in a comprehensive study  by the nonprofit Treatment Research Institute was found to have a positive impact on kids, with reductions in behavioral and emotional problems among children who took part in the program.
Best of all, our programs are offered FREE of charge, with the generous support of our donors and sponsors.