Adolescent Recovery Program
The Problem
(Solutions are at the bottom of the page.)
The world that today’s adolescent lives in, is far more stressful but offers
more freedom than any time in the history of our world. As a result I am seeing
an entire generation being destroyed due to a lack of addressing the problem in
the hopes that our children will “grow out of this phase” in their lives. I am working with teens in
Alcoholism and drug addictions are diseases of denial. The person with the addiction denies the problems, as do those around them. They have to lie. If they told the truth, friends and family would be in shock. Everyone knows someone whose life has been devastated by chemical abuse. We have all seen teens, families and marriages damaged, lost jobs, legal consequences, abusive relationships, physical consequences, emotional illness, depression and suicide.
I have been on advisory councils for schools and most students and teachers agree that the problem is larger than parents and administrators are willing to acknowledge. When I ask students the number of their peers that are using drugs, they frequently remark between 50% and 90% of the students are using alcohol, marijuana and cocaine ON A REGULAR BASIS. When I ask them to tell me how many students in each classroom are drinking or getting high, it is easier for them to count the 2-5 classmates that aren’t using any drugs than to calculate the numbers that are.
New Note: I originally wrote this page
in 2002. For the past few year, students have been
reporting that in a class of 30 students between three and five of the 30 do
not use drugs or alcohol. This means that 83-90% of teenagers are using drugs.
The 83% statistic is usually from kids in the 9th and 10th
grade. The 90% statistic is from 11th and 12th graders.
I have been speaking to the district administrative offices
since I opened this office in July 2001.
It is amazing the responses I have received. The counselors in the schools know there is a
drug problem, the teachers and the students know there is a drug problem, but I
have the most difficult time getting the message to administrators and
parents. I have offered my services, but
to no avail. I discussed addressing the problem and helping to establish a drug
free school with a focus on helping the student as opposed to suspension or
expulsion. The response was, “we are doing prevention programs” and “trying to
keep them busy with after school activities”. I tried to explain that prevention
programs are good for middle schools, but this is high school! A student
experiments with drugs 4 or 5 times, after that it becomes a coping method,
then abuse, then an addiction. It is
useless to provide prevention to people who are already abusing or addicted. My
statistics also come from a 2-year
The Solution
The
program at Alamo City Treatment Services focuses on serving 14 through 17 year
olds. We provide a special combination of chemical dependency treatment with
education groups, process groups individual or family counseling and activities
that are of an interest to those in this age group. We are in network with 45 insurance companies
and our fees are designed to provide accessible treatment for every income.
The programming for young adults mirrors our adult services. Young adults participate in an intensive program of education, counseling, 12-step activities, educational lectures, family counseling and therapeutic recreation. The specially trained Young Adult counseling staff focuses solely on meeting the needs of this population.
The young adult’s family is involved in counseling throughout the process. We have found that the more a family is involved, the more successful the outcome.
If parents want to know what to do about their teens that are using drugs, I would encourage them to buy the book, Don’t Let Your Kids Kill You by Charles Rubin. It has some outstanding recommendations and approaches to deal with chemical dependency and abuse.
If you have a problem with an addiction, please call. We can stop on our own, but the fix is only
temporary. Addiction is a physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual
problem that rarely goes away. There is a solution and we want to help. Don’t
struggle alone anymore. Let us help you find the answer with a proven solution
that works.
Please
contact us at 210-541-8400 for more information.