National Association for Children of Addiction

08/05/2025

Did you grow up in a family impacted by the disease of addiction and find you are struggling at work? Do you find you are always the one responsible for the big projects? Or just tired of never being good enough? This week’s blog “Navigating Excellence: Top 10 Resilience Coping Skills for Overachieving COAs in the Workplace" may help to identify ways that your childhood affects you in the workplace. And that it doesn’t have to be that way. https://nacoa.org/navigating-excellence-top-10-resilience-coping-skills-for-acoas-in-the-workplace/

Adults who grew up in families impacted by the disease of addiction or substance misuse develop coping mechanisms to navigate life’s challenges. For ACOAs – adults who grew up in these families – one prevalent coping mechanism is the pursuit of perfection, leading to overachievement. These you...

08/04/2025

08/01/2025

NACoA is thrilled to announce the updated Tools for Educators and Staff is now available! For years, NACoA has partnered with schools—providing insight, resources, and compassion-driven tools to support children impacted by parental substance use disorders. NACoA’s Tools for Educators & Staff- a refreshed and expanded version of our renowned Kit for Educators - provides a set of resources designed to deepen understanding, support emotional safety, and empower all caring adults on the school campus to be a safe, supportive adult for children of parental addiction (COAs).
https://nacoa.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Tools-for-Educators.NACoA_.2025.pdf

07/30/2025

As cannabis becomes more widely legalized and commercialized, many communities are unaware of the growing risks it poses to adolescents—especially when retail access increases. At NACoA, we believe it's our responsibility to raise the alarm on emerging threats to children living in families affected by substance use. This is more than a policy issue—it's its own youth mental health crisis in the making. The latest research reveals a clear connection between cannabis retail density and serious mental health outcomes in teens. We urge communities to pay attention, take action, and protect the next generation from long-term harm.

As communities navigate the evolving landscape of cannabis legalization, emerging research underscores a pressing concern: the impact of cannabis retail availability on adolescent mental health. A recent study by Kaiser Permanente reveals that local policies prohibiting cannabis storefronts are asso...

07/28/2025

We are overwhelmed with gratitude for so many who have taken part in the Brick By Brick: Building Hope LEGO Challenge campaign. Special thanks goes to the heart and creativity of Keith Harmon, a father from Pennsylvania who envisioned the LEGO Challenge and took it one step further with a 48-hour live-streamed LEGO build-a-thon. The LEGO campaign remains open through Saturday, August 2—there’s still time to take part in a video challenge or make a donation!

Dear Friends, We are overwhelmed with gratitude. Since the launch of the NACoA Brick By Brick: Building Hope LEGO Challenge campaign on July 20, we have raised over $45,000 to support children impacted by parental substance use disorders—the 1 in 4 children in the United States who too often suffe...