My daughter is a stripper

[Sad_mother]

I just discovered my 19 year old daughter has chosen to be a stripper. She has taken drugs in the last few months, een arrested for being drunk and dropped out of un. i She has had a privileged life with private schooling and anything she wanted, been loved by her family but I'm sure she has a mental illness. I can't deal with her life choices so she doesn't talk to me and I feel like a failure. I don't know what went wrong.

[Bre-RO]

Hi there @Sad_mother 

Thank you for opening up about this here, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to be worrying about your daughter and the choices she is making at the moment. It sounds like she has been quite open with you about the stripping and drug use, is that correct? 

I'm going to include some links to content we have on our site that might help you with with approaching the situation.

This is an article on how to talk about drugs with your teenager, this one talks about how to ask questions to encourage your teen to talk. They might be helpful in navigating conversations with your daughter. 

How do you feel about opening up a deeper conversation with your daughter? 

[Sadmomjen74]

My daughter is, ALSO. And I think she uses drugs to summon the nerve to do this for a living. Her dad is a doctor, sister is a lawyer, brother works in the energy sector. Turns her nose up at the kinds of jobs I have worked. She's got NPD. Entire family is heartbroken.

[Hannah_RO]

Hi @Sadmomjen74 , thank you so much for sharing. I am sorry to hear that your family is heartbroken, that all sounds like it has been a lot for you and your family to process. I can only imagine how difficult it has been to process the choices your daughter is making around her career and drug-use, as well as coming into terms with her diagnosis. 

I am wondering how you and your family are coping throughout all of this? Do you have any supports, such as a family member, friend or counsellor to talk to?