Adolescent Treatment Parents Comments

November 14, 2008

Hello All Visions Staff:

Thanksgiving is nearing and we wanted to be sure that you know how thankful we are that you have been a part of our lives. One year ago, we received a phone call that our son had overdosed and was on the way to the hospital via ambulance. We were in a state of fear and apprehension. It seemed very likely that he would die from an accidental or intentional overdose.

Today, we hear from our son daily. He talks about his dreams, his program, and his gratitude for this day. The difference in our relationship with him is almost unbelievable! One day last week, he called and mentioned that it was kind of a rough day at school. We listened and told him that tomorrow was another day. His response was, “Don’t get me wrong, a bad day now is better than any good day I used to have.”

Our son had nine months of sobriety on November 15. A couple of months ago, his NA sponsor relapsed and went back out after years of sobriety. He quickly found another sponsor, who is a tech at In Balance Transitional Living. Although we are sorry about his former sponsor, this change has turned out to be pivotal in our son’s recovery. He has worked steps one through six with his new sponsor, and the fact that his sponsor lives on site is an added blessing.

We have read testimonials from past Visions’ parents thanking you for giving them back their son or daughter. What you have given us is a completely new son. Each of you helped to lay the groundwork for the transformation that is taking place day by day in our son. He is learning to love, value, and accept himself; and as a result, to love, value, and accept others. Last week, after a community meeting, our son called home to tell us that he had been moved to tears. He said he never thought he would hear the kinds of things said about him by others that he had heard during that meeting. The fact that his peers recognized the changes in him was very powerful.

Heading into this holiday season, we send our love and gratitude to each of you. Your jobs are difficult, demanding, and often we would imagine, heartbreaking; but…you change lives…you make a difference in this world…you have changed the life of our son.

God bless you all,
With love and gratitude,
Proud Parents of a Visions alumnus

Visions Teen - Our View

Shakespeare = Sober (kinda, sorta… not really.)

Shakespeare = Sober (kinda, sorta… not really.)


I was a freshman in high school when I was given an assignment to read and analyze a lengthy poem by William Shakespeare. The poem, ‘The Rape of Lucrece’ is almost 1900 lines long and, in Shakespearian form, very hard to follow for a fourteen year old brain under the influence of anything I could get my hands on. I never read the poem. I failed the class and many others that followed. It was only after I got sober almost a decade later that I discovered a passage in that same poem that has helped me maintain perspective in my own continuous recovery from the disease of more.
I was crawling through my first year of sobriety and knee deep in my guilt reading phase. I decided to read all of the books that I was supposed to read as a way to make some amends to myself. It is an endeavor that I continue still, and through which I have gained a great deal. When I rediscovered ‘The Rape of Lucrece’ I struggled through it, but was able to take with me the following:

What win I if I gain the thing I seek?
A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy?
Who buys a minute’s mirth to wail a week?
Or sells eternity to get a toy?
For one sweet grape who will the vine destroy?
Or what fond begger, but to touch the crown,
Would with the scepter straight be stricken down?

I get a lot out of those seven lines. There are more times than I like to admit that drinking and using drugs sounds like a great idea. There are those times when I don’t want to go to meetings, or call my sponsor, or be of service. Those are also the times when I can open my wallet and read that part of the poem, take a deep breath, and keep walking. “What win I if I gain the thing I seek?” What will getting loaded avail me? At the very least it is a hangover. At most it would cost me my life. “A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy?” Mere moments of the ease and comfort that comes with that first drink, and the spiral that surly will follow. “Who buys a minutes mirth to wail a week? Or sells eternity to get a toy? Who in their right mind would give up four and a half years of recovery and immeasurable progress for just ‘one more time’? Today I have the opportunity to make the right choice. One day at a time, I hope to continue making the right choice.

Brian C.-
Visions Teen Drug treatment Center