“Our relationship is hard. Last year he got incarcerated for something that he did while he was under the influence… I don't get to see him"

Description

“So today I will be interviewing my friend, Cassandra Lorenzo and she has a family member who has been misusing alcohol. Umm, so Cassandra, who was the person misusing alcohol in your family?”
“Um, my cousin Victor.”

“Did he ever lie about his addiction to any of your family members or you?”
“Yes, he would lie all the time. Um, he would claim that he didn’t have an addiction while trying to like, sneak stuff in and just trying to make excuses for his, um, alcohol addiction.”

“Did you or anyone else in your family see him misusing alcohol?”
“Yes, he would always misuse alcohol especially at like family events or parties um, even the ones that we, you know, said that we said that we would not have alcohol at he will always find a way to sneak some in even if that, um, was in a water bottle or another type of bottle. He will always have alcohol with him.”

“Did he ever steal from your family to get money for his addiction?”
“Not that I know of. He’s never stolen from me or anyone in my family. But I know, um, you know, his personal life was his personal life, so I don’t know what he did outside of it. But as far as the family goes, he’s never stolen from us.”

“How did his addiction affect your relationship with him?”
“Well now, um, our relationship is kind of hard because last year he got incarcerated for something that he did while he was under the influence. So now our relationship is kind of hard because I really don’t get to see him.”

“How did you cope with the situation?”
“It was really sad, um, it was really hard especially cause we were best friends. Uhm, he was like my big brother, but I mean everyone has consequences and he didn’t really listen to what anybody had to say.”

“Did anyone try to help him with his addiction?”
“Yes, umm, I think like the whole family really tried to help him. I know I helped him, my parents, his parent, his fiancée. Um, we would always try to help him but, he always claimed that he didn’t have an addiction or you know, he claimed that everything was fine. He ‘had it under control’.”

“And you did say that you haven’t seen him in a while, correct?’
“Yes I haven’t seen him since last September, so it’s been a year.”

“Is there anything you wish you would have said to him before all of this happened?”
“Um I wish I would’ve told him that he was gonna get in some serious trouble and he was gonna ruin his life and change his kids life and change everyones life because now he like he’s not with us.

“Has he regained you or your families trust at all?”
“Uh its kinda hard to really say that he’s gained it back I mean we’re still in the process of the whole thing so we don’t really know exactly what happened or whats going on um like I said he still till the day claims that he didn’t have a problem and think thats one of the biggest issues. Uhm, but it’s kind of hard to say since the process really isn’t done.

“Have you contacted him recently?”
“Uh, the last time I spoke to him was probably when school first started. He called me to see how I was doing, but thats kind of hard because he only gets like limited calls and he has to call his kids and his fiancé.

“Alright, well thank you Cassy.”
“You’re welcome.”

Participants

• cecemitchell4
  

Interview By

• cecemitchell4