THREE THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE CALLING A REHAB CENTER

You're reading this because you're a concerned mother whose son or daughter is
addicted to drugs, smoking pot too often or regularly coming home drunk. You've made
several attempts to speak with them about their using and they refuse to hear you or
they take your concerns to heart yet nothing changes.
This crisis and fear of an overdose are causing you to have sleepless nights, jump when
the phone rings, affect your performance at work and negatively impact your
relationships. You may have even started lying to friends and family to hide the truth
about your kid's drug addiction and save your remaining family members from further
shame and humiliation. If any of this sounds familiar you've come to the right place to
get help for help.
The process of finding the best addiction treatment center for your son or daughter can
be overwhelming. Getting them to agree to go to rehab is another brick wall you're likely
to encounter. Here are three important things you need to know before making any
treatment decisions and talking to your child about going to rehab:
Rehab centers are marketing geniuses
There are a ton of rehab centers in South Florida and some of them spend upwards of
one hundred thousand every month to attract new clients. An industry-standard
marketing metric is approximately $5000 per new patient. Before they know a single
thing about your child they'll want to run your insurance to make sure you have the
proper benefits. Once they determine your insurance is good they'll start pushing you to
commit. The conversation can quickly feel like you're negotiating to buy a car instead of
saving your child's life.
As a professional, I can tell you this is where the long road of relapses begins. Choosing
the most appropriate treatment program is essential for getting your kid sober. There
are a lot of good rehab centers out there but you have to know how to separate the
clinical aspect from the economics.
They won't go down without a fight
When you decide its time to confront your child about going to rehab they are going to
fight you hard! To them, drugs are the solution for coping with their problems, to you,
drugs are the reason they have problems. They are going to come up with objections
you haven't thought of and you will be baffled. She is going to swear she's stopping and
you are going to want to believe her. She will blame you for being a bad parent and you'll
feel guilty and blame yourself. And you better be prepared to put boundaries in place
and issue consequences you can deliver if she doesn't budge. If the intervention goes
badly its doubtful you'll have another opportunity to get it right.
A failed intervention raises the stakes and there's a good chance her drug use is going
to accelerate. It's better to stand down and engage a professional interventionist then
blow the deal. South Florida and especially places like Boca Raton have their share of
headstrong and entitled teenagers.
You got him into rehab . . . now what
Three days after getting him into rehab your son is going to wage a secondary
campaign to discredit your decision for putting him there and stir up powerful feelings
of guilt. His ability to manipulate you demonstrates his talent to control you while you
beat yourself up for being a bad parent. What are you going to do? If you cave and
rescue him, you may have just signed his death warrant considering how fatal today's
street drugs are. It's essential to have a long term treatment plan in place that involves
the whole family. The idea you are going to send him away for thirty days and he'll return
fixed is not realistic.
Lasting recovery takes place over a long period and is something the whole family
participates in. Wholistic recovery is the key to success. Having an interventionist
guiding you from the beginning significantly increases the chances of successful
recovery. A good interventionist will stay engaged with your family for approximately six
months and provide support for the recovering individual and family members. Having
that extra layer of support and experience on your side is a worthy investment
considering the number of families that put their kid in rehab 2, 3 and 4 times before
they finally get sober.
The best strategy is preparedness and having the advantage of experience and
expertise on your side from the beginning. I encourage you to do everything you can to
set the stage for success the first time.
South Florida Intervention offers exclusive solutions for families struggling with the
devastating effects of drug addiction. Marc Kantor is the founder of South Florida
Intervention, based in Boca Raton, Florida. If someone you know is struggling with
addiction, we can help. For additional information please visit
www.southfloridaintervention.com or e-mail us at [email protected].