wfn.org | UCC/Video interview addresses alcoholism

["Barb Powell"<powellb@ucc.org>]

    TITLE: Video interview addresses alcoholism
    
    Nov. 6, 1997
    United Church of Christ
    Arthur Lawrence Cribbs Jr.
    (216) 736-2201
    E-mail: cribbsa@ucc.org
    On the Web: www.ucc.org
    
    Interview addresses the many faces of alcoholism
          
         CLEVELAND -- When an alcoholic lives in your house,
    where do you turn?  When an alcoholic is a member of your
    congregation, what do you do?  If you are an alcoholic but
    can't admit it, how do you get help?
         These are some of the hard questions that alcoholism
    forces upon all it touches those it touches deeply and daily
    and those involved on a less personal level.
         Juanita Helphrey, Minister for Racial Justice Programs
    in the Division of the American Missionary Association of
    the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, addresses
    these and other questions in a half-hour video interview
    titled, "Hello, I'm  an Alcoholic."   It is one in a series
    of "UCC One Live" videos produced by the United Church of
    Christ's Office of Communication and hosted by its Executive
    Director, the Rev. Arthur Lawrence Cribbs Jr.
         As an alcoholic in recovery, Helphrey knows too well
    the struggle alcoholics and their families face.  Every
    year, 125,000 people in the United States die from alcohol
    abuse. 
         While organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk
    Driving (M.A.D.D.)  have raised the nation's awareness about
    the dangers of alcohol, often the church has lagged behind
    in this role.
         Helphrey wants to see churches become more active in
    addressing the dangers and results of alcohol.  Those
    dangers can resent themselves in ways that may seem harmless 
    to the unaware or uninformed.  "Sometimes when a person
    takes communion and wine is served, that person is thrown
    back into alcoholism," she cautions.  "Communion can be a
    source of failure for an alcoholic.  In my [local] church,
    grape juice is served."
         In the many roles which make up her life  -- mother,
    poet, Native American, social activist -- Helphrey is always
    an advocate for persons in the grips of alcohol. 
         As a mother, Helphrey  condemns advertisements aimed at
    youth who may then start drinking when they go away to
    college.  "My son went to college and, in less than a year,
    he came back an alcoholic," she says.  "I felt so helpless."
         As a Native American, Helphrey speaks of the role of
    genetics in alcoholism and believes for many Native
    Americans alcohol is used as a weapon.  "We just were not
    prepared for it when people from Europe brought liquor to
    us.  Our bodies could not adjust to it," she says.
         "Hello, I'm an Alcoholic" challenges myths about
    alcohol as it outlines the warning signs of alcohol
    addiction.  The videotape, which comes with a study guide
    containing questions and exercises suggested for use in
    group study and discussion, is available for $19.95 from
    Office of Communication, United Church of Christ, 700
    Prospect Ave., Cleveland, OH  44115-1100; telephone (216)
    736-2222; fax (216) 736-2223.
         The United Church of Christ, with national offices in
    Cleveland, has more than 6,100 congregations in the United
    States and Puerto Rico.  It was formed by the 1957 union of
    the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical
    and Reformed Church.
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