My Journey Discovering the Signs and Symptoms of addiction part 3

Fast forward to a year ago. I am twenty-one with four years sober and now I work at that treatment center that changed my life. I am a chemical dependency counselor and I specialize in adolescent addicts. I am the youngest person to ever hold this position within my company and I aspire to become a psychiatrist one day. Yet even with all of this going for me I have the nagging belief that I am not good enough, school is too hard for me and I am nothing without Adderall. Through a lot of prayer and support from family and friends I enrolled in my first classes at Pierce, the first step on the long road to my MD. Talking to a friend at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting one day, I casually mentioned that I was struggling with school and I noticed that I was self-medicating with excessive amounts of coffee. “Caffeine is a stimulant ADD adults frequently use for self-medication (Kelly and Ramundo).” My friend, who has 22 years sober, shared her experience with ADHD with me. She told me that when she had 11 years sober she felt like she was dying inside and didn’t know what was wrong with her. She gave me some books on the topic and recommended a psychiatrist that specialized in addiction.
I like to call this part of my life “my recovery with ADHD”. I am now taking a non-stimulant medication that assists with some symptoms but I have also made it a point to learn more about my disorder. “It’s difficult to grow up with the hidden handicap of ADD. Many of us feel that we’ve spent our lives disappointing everyone-parents, siblings, teachers, friends and ourselves (Kelly and Ramundo).” The same feeling of relief and identification comes over me when I read about ADHD as when I read the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. The more I learn the better I feel and the more coping tools I am trained to use. I have learned that medication is just one piece of my recovery; it is not the sole solution. “Finding a drug to manage some of your symptoms can be extremely helpful in your recovery. But you should regard it only as a starting place in your journey, not as the final destination (Kelly and Ramundo).” I have already implemented tools of increased structure, color-coding, studying in 20 minute increments, flash cards, etc. I am learning what works for me and how I work, so to speak.

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Adolescent Addiction and the Disease Concept

As a chemical dependency counselor at Visions Adolescent Treatment Center one of my duties is to educate the Adolescents on the disease concept of addiction and alcoholism. As an southern Californian, with a mother who has been sober through Alcoholics Anonymous for the last eight years, I am very familiar and comfortable with the disease concept. I am not going to lie, when my mother first got sober I was an ornery 13 year old teen who believed that the disease concept was an excuse that alcoholics used to disregard their horrid behavior. I thought that alcoholics and drug addicts, not knowing that I was one, needed to buck up and take the blame for their behaviors. (I did not know at this point that the twelve steps were solely aimed at taking responsibility for our actions and making them right.) However, through the process of going to adolescent rehab at Visions Adolescent Treatment Center myself and getting sober I became very familiar with the disease concept and readily accepted it. When people ask what I do for a living, I tell them, with pride, that I am a chemical dependency counselor for adolescents. Many are intrigued to learn more about the recovering community and most people praise me for helping others. Not once have I received negative feedback or people giving me weird looks, as I originally expected. So you could imagine my surprise, when I found out through a gentleman who was touring our facility, that around the world many people are skeptical about the disease concept. When I say skeptical, I mean that the impression that I got was that is was widely discarded as hogwash, for lack of a better term. This gentleman explained to me that he taught a course in the U.K. on the disease concept. He described the way that his students reacted to it and the various ways that he had to go about getting the information to these people without the entire class balking at him. I was speechless. Sometimes, I for one, take for granted the recovering community that I have grown up in, in southern California.

Visions Team - Laurel Shires, Chemical Dependency Counselor

"I try to help adolescents find themselves and come to appreciate who they are. Guiding their transformation into young adulthood is my primary goal." - Laurel Shires

Laurel Shires is currently a Chemical Dependency Counselor at Visions residential facility. She joined the Visions team in 2004 as a Program Aide and has also held positions as the Lead Program Aide and Program Aide Supervisor. Laurel is currently in the process of becoming a state certified AOD Counselor while attending courses at Santa Monica College. With over five years of sobriety, she is able to empathize with struggling teens and help them find hope for recovery.

Visions Team - Ryan Cox, Chemical Dependency Counselor

Ryan was born and raised in Longview, TX and moved to California when he was 16. Ryan is an alumnus of Visions and has been affiliated with Visions since he first came to Visions July 10, 2003, as a resident. He was 16 years old at that time. Ryan graduated from Visions’ Inpatient program and then graduated Visions’ Outpatient program a year later. Ryan then began working at Visions as a program aide. After 18 months of sobriety he relapsed, but was able to get sober again. As soon as Ryan celebrated another year of sobriety, he started to work at Visions again as a counselor. Ryan is now 21 and has over 3 years or sobriety. He loves working for Visions because he is able to give back what was given to him when he was just a teenager who didn't know anything except using drugs. Ryan has learned a lot from Visions: Visions Teen taught him how to grow up in sobriety and become a productive person. Ryan is currently working on his counseling degree.

Teens Are Never Compliant, But...

Compliance:
The simplest way I can define Compliance is to do what is suggested or asked of us, by someone wiser than us or a person we look up to; questions are ok. To follow ones request without question is more of a dictatorship.
In working with adolescence that are at risk (abusing substances, dealing drugs, or other negative behaviors)compliancy is crucial. While in treatment teens(and after) need to follow the rules and recommendations given by myself as their Chemical Dependency counselor or their therapist. The goal is that they begin to act accordingly in order to change their behaviors. Also, if they do follow the suggestions they will begin to feel better about themselves and less likely to go back to the harmful lifestyle. Encouraging them to ask questions helps empower them to begin to see the benefits and begin to self-monitor. I feel that compliancy is very valid in this area as well in my personal life.
On a personally level, compliance is important for my success. I have not always felt this way; in fact it was the exact opposite. Today I realize that the rules and structure are done for the safety of society. I may not agree with all of them but when I follow them my life stays somewhat peaceful. When my supervisor gives me direction I need to listen and put his words into action. I may ask the question but ultimately he is the supervisor and I am there to learn from him. Just like I try and teach the young adults I work with I try and live by the same code.

Brian Wildason