Adolescent Addiction Treatment

Adolescent drug treatment occurs in four stages. The first stage is Treatment Initiation, where the teen first enters treatment. This can be a difficult process for the whole family, and it is not uncommon for teens to be angry, scared, and severely resistant to going to rehab. Early Abstinence is the second phase of recovery. During the first few days of treatment, teens must adjust to their new environment and the daunting prospect of living life without drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. This is the phase when teens are introduced to the recovery tools they can carry into the next phases.
After 90 days, teens move into the Maintaining Abstinence phase of recovery. This often involves a transition from inpatient treatment to outpatient treatment, sober high school, and sober living facilities. Gradually, the levels of supervision recede as teens accept more responsibility and demonstrate a commitment to recovery. With maintenance, recovering teens grow into recovering adults, which is the final stage- Advanced Recovery. Long-term sobriety provides a life of freedom and choices. Teens who get the opportunity to arrest their addiction and alcoholism early in life have their whole lives ahead of them, and what seems like a gaping canyon now can only be a minor bump in the road in retrospect.

Please contact us for help finding adolescent addiction treatment.

Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami Cocaine Incident

During a recent airing of Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami, Khloe Kardashian finds an alleged vial of cocaine in a dressing room and later takes it out and pretends to snort it on air. There is a minor freakout and Khloe later pours the coke down the toilet. Apparently, there is a lot of cocaine addiction in Miami. Ugh. It really annoys me when drugs are used as a prop to create a stir, and then the incident is dismissed as a silly little thing. Cocaine is a really big deal and joking about it and treating it like it’s nothing sends a really messed up message to viewers. Seeing she already has a DUI gracing her record, and in the past has been an advocate for drug and alcohol awareness, I wish the show could have put a more constructive spin on the presence of cocaine rather that one fueled purely by the need for more ratings.
Teen drug abuse is an unwavering problem and more awareness of the perils of drug abuse and the promises of recovery might inspire more teens to attempt recovery. Cocaine abuse is a very real problem that should be taken seriously. It’s not a funny little substance you pull from your handbag and make a joke about. It can ruin lives. I can’t imagine having to go through my addiction and early recovery with the press watching my every move, but I think it can be beneficial when a celebrity can acknowledge how bad drugs can be and offer hope to those that might look up to them. If reality shows won’t do it, then I will. Recovery exists. If you are a teen struggling with substance abuse, or your child is struggling, help and sobriety can be your reality, so please contact teen drug and alcohol treatment.

Did Miami's Michael Beasly Twitter His Way Into Drug Treatment?

Michael Beasley, star forward of the Miami Heat may have Tweeted his way right into a Houston drug treatment program this weekend following a series of increasingly disturbing tweets on Twitter, a couple of page deletions, and a TwitPic which may or may not show a couple baggies of drugs in the background of the photo. Beasley’s increasingly bizarre posts including things like, “Not feelin’ this at all,” and “Y [sic] do I feel like the whole world is against me?” precluded his admission to the recovery center. He managed to publicize his own breakdown which may have led to pressure from others to get help.
Social networking sites are popular- especially with teens. For whatever reason, it seems like many adolescents are more comfortable letting the entire cyber universe know what’s going on with them than talking to their parents or loved ones. A suspicious posting on a blog, Twitter, Facebook, or Myspace can be a cry for help that parents may not hear. My Myspace site was covered in suggestive drug slang and hints at self injury when I was using. After my behavior changed, my parents decided to check out what I was up to online. I was so mad at the time, and felt like my privacy was being invaded, but now I know it was for my own sake. After seeing the kinds of things I was putting out into cyberspace, my parents sat me down for a long talk, which led us to the decision to try adolescent drug treatment. It’s a difficult thing, to ask for help, and the process was definitely a struggle for everyone at times, but it was so worth it. I hope that Michael Beasley finds the help he is looking for, and that anyone who needs help finds it. If you feel that your teen may be struggling with drug or alcohol dependency, help is here.