COMPASSIONATE GUIDANCE SINCE 2008
When loving
your child
through
addiction feels
impossible.
If your teen or adult child is struggling with addiction, you may feel exhausted, afraid, and unsure what to do next — trying to help while quietly wondering if your help is making things worse.
- WHO THIS IS FOR -
At Sharing Without Shame, parents move from crisis into empowered action.
This is not about abandoning your child. This is not about shame. And it is not about pretending everything is okay. It is about learning how to love your child while setting boundaries, protecting your peace, and making choices that support recovery instead of chaos.
Compassionate Support
Lead by someone personally and professionally trained. You will be met where you are - not judged.
Evidence-Based
Guidance rooted in CRAFT, harm reduction, and proven family recovery frameworks.
Practical Tools
Real strategies for boundaries, communication, and protecting your peace day by day.
You're not alone — and you're not the only parent who feels this way.
When your child is in active addiction, your whole life can begin to revolve around them. You may find yourself answering the phone at all hours, paying bills, giving money, trying to prevent the next crisis, or walking on eggshells just to keep the peace.
You may be asking:
Am I helping or enabling?
How do I set a boundary without feeling cruel?
What if I say no and something bad happens?
How do I stop living in fear?
How do I support my child without losing myself?
These questions are painful, but they are also common. Donna's support helps parents begin to understand their role, their choices, and the healthy next steps available to them.
DONNA'S APPROACH
A healthier way to help -
without shame or
abandonment.
Donna teaches parents how to shift from reacting in fear to responding with clarity.
Through private support, workshops, books, tools, and community education, she helps
you build a personalized roadmap for stronger decisions for you and your family.
01
Understand What Is Really
Happening
Addiction affects the whole family. Donna helps parents understand the patterns that keep them stuck in shame, guilt, and fear.
02
Stop Unhealthy Helping
Many parents help because they love deeply. Donna teaches you how to recognize where helping unintentionally becomes harmful.
03
Create Boundaries That
Heal
Healthy boundaries are not punishment. They are clear, loving agreements that protect your peace and support healthier choices.
— WHAT CHANGES
Find your footing again — even before your child is ready.
Donna helps parents move from feeling overwhelmed and unsure to having the words, structure, and support they need to create calmer conversations and a more connected home.
Clarity over chaos
Shift from overwhelm and reactivity into clarity, calm, and more intentional choices.
Boundaries that hold
Learn to set clear, compassionate limits that protect your peace of mind and support healthier family patterns.
Love without losing self
Stay connected to your child while honoring your own needs, limits, and emotional well-being.
Freedom from shame
Let go of the guilt and blame so you can begin creating healthier family patterns.
Family realignment
Bring your family into greater alignment with patterns that support recovery, trust, and healthier connection.
Renewed hope
Begin to see a calmer, more hopeful path forward for your family.
— MEET DONNA
Donna Marston — a mother who learned that love alone wasn't enough.
Donna is a wife, mother of two adult sons, published author, speaker, recovery coach, certified recovery support worker, harm reduction trainer, and founder of Families & Parents Sharing Without Shame. As a mother, she knows the heartbreak, fear, and deep love that come with supporting a child through addiction.
For years, Donna tried to rescue, control, and protect her son. Eventually, she learned that love alone was not enough. She had to learn how to set boundaries, stop unhealthy helping, and take responsibility for her own healing — without guilt or shame.
Today, Donna guides parents who feel overwhelmed and unsure if their love is helping or hurting. Through workshops, courses, private sessions, books, and the Sharing Without Shame podcast, she helps parents regain balance even if their child is not ready to change.
- Recovery Support
- CRAFT Trained
- Published Author
- Harm Reduction
- Family-First Focus
- Podcast Host
Free Guide
Is loving your child in active addiction costing you your sanity?
You have begged, rescued, paid the bills, and walked on eggshells - yet nothing seems to change.
Donna's free guide, 5 Boundaries & Breakthroughs, gives you compassionate boundary strategies to help stop the chaos, protect your peace, and support your child without losing yourself in the process.
- HOW DONNA CAN SUPPORT YOU -
Every family is different.
Begin where it feels right.
Whether you need private guidance, education, emotional support, or tools you can use at your own pace, Donna offers several ways to begin.
Private Consultation
Sit down with Donna for compassionate guidance, clearer understanding, and a healthier path forward for you and your family.
Best for: Parents who want compassionate, one-on-one guidance as they navigate what comes next.
Workshops & Courses
Learn practical tools for boundaries, communication, emotional healing, and family recovery in a guided educational setting.
Best for: Parents who want structure, teaching, and step-by-step support.
Books & Journals
Donna's books give parents practical guidance, real stories, daily encouragement, and healing exercises for navigating addiction in the family.
Best for: Parents who want support they can return to again and again.
Free Community Support
Join a private community of parents who understand the pain, fear, hope, and complexity of loving someone through addiction.
Best for: Parents who need connection and a reminder that they are not alone.
— THE LIBRARY
Books for parents and families facing addiction.
Donna's books are written for concerned parents and family members navigating the painful reality of loving someone in active addiction or early recovery. Each book offers a different type of support — from education and personal stories to daily reflections and guided healing exercises.
Sharing Without Shame
A heartfelt guide for parents and families who have someone struggling with addiction. Real stories, education, coping tools, and reassurance that you are not alone.
Peeling The Onion
A deeper dive to uncover the layers that keep parents stuck in pain, guilt, fear, and unhealthy patterns. Begin the process of healing and self-discovery.
Just for Today
A daily reflections book with 365 days of encouragement, wisdom, and hope for parents living through the emotional rollercoaster of addiction.
Healing Without Shame Journal
A guided journal designed to help you identify emotions, recognize patterns, work through old wounds, and build greater self-awareness.
— STORIES FROM FAMILIES —
Families have found hope,
healing, and strength here.
Donna has saved our family. I went to my first meeting broken, desperate, and afraid.
— Paula Stolberg
Parent, Sharing Without Shame Community
Donna's empathy, guidance, and encouragement can help you set healthy boundaries and establish the right behaviors that may actually help your loved one enter recovery.
— Ginger Ross
Parent, Sharing Without Shame Community
You helped educate me and my family. You taught us so much about boundary setting, how we can't save someone who is not ready, manipulation, tricks of the substance user. I never lost hope because of the group
— Paula S
Parent, Sharing Without Shame Community
COMMUNITY
You are not alone anymore.
One of the hardest parts of loving someone through addiction is feeling like no one understands. Donna's free Families Sharing Without Shame community gives parents a place to connect with others who know what it feels like to walk in your shoes - encouragement, shared experience, and support from people who understand the fear, grief, hope, and strength this journey requires.
You can love your child
without losing yourself.
You do not have to keep living in chaos, guilt, and fear. You can learn how to set boundaries, make healthier choices, and find peace again — even if your child is not ready to change yet. Donna will meet you where you're at and help you take the next right step.
Compassionate guidance for parents loving a child through addiction, with space for understanding, healing, and hope — without shame.
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About Donna
The Approach
Support & Tools
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