On Tuesday night a group of folks from Harrison Neighborhood gathered in the park building to hear Jerry Moe talk about working with children impacted by the addiction of their family members. I admit that I was a little nervous: we were a small crowd, not the impressive audience that the Vice President and National Director of Children’s Programs at the Betty Ford Foundation surely deserved. But the vulnerability and the candor with which he told his story– and the stories of the kids who he had seen struggle for hope over three decades– made the intimate circle very fitting.

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Two pieces from his presentation really stood out to me. First, was his passionate belief that the most important quality that human beings share is the need to love and be loved. This connection of love is the energy that flows in healthy relationships and safe communities; it can muster up life in those on the brink of death. Addiction, Jerry told us, makes parents unable to show love to their children. The impact of this lack of love is profound: children blame themselves for their parents’ disease, lose their sense of trust in themselves and in others, and learn not to name and share their feelings.

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The second element of his presentation that I carry with me is the hope that he radiated, especially when he spoke about how we can encourage healing for children. We can offer a safe space for children to share their feelings without fear of judgment, and we can help kids find multiple adults who they can trust. Hope flows from knowing that we are not alone. Individuals can form a coalition of people who know the facts of addiction and have a commitment to caring for the children in their communities. Children can learn to trust a network of adults and learn to trust their own emotions. We can all be farmers, as Jerry put it: using knowledge and tools for sowing seeds of hope.

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Jerry Moe was able to come to Harrison Neighborhood through a partnership between RCFL and The Retreat, an organization in Wayzata that provides educational services based on the principles of 12 Step recovery programs.