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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].