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Several recent studies have suggested that it is beneficial for parents to talk to their teens about their own teen drug use in the past. Studies by Hazelden which has a sober college, Brigham Young University that has a sober dorm, and the Partnership for a Drug Free America that supports sober university, all suggest that an open dialogue about drug and alcohol use is beneficial to teens- because if anything, the doors of communication are left open.
For me, a lot of my drug use was motivated by the thrill of secrecy, and the feeling that I was not under my parents’ control. especially while I was away at school. However, my parents had always been fairly open with me about drugs and alcohol. Alcoholism runs in my family, so knowing a parent’s particular struggles actually made it easier for me to go to them when things got really bad. I knew that they might be disappointed that I had chosen to use drugs, but I also knew that they would be understanding of my inability to stop. I feel really grateful for that. I was still in big trouble- don’t get me wrong- but I was offered a chance to get help as well. I feel that honesty amongst parents and teens benefits all parties. It seems like disclosing some “secret” information about past drug use is a good bartering tool for parents: they give a little and hopefully the teen will feel safe giving a little as well. Communication between parents and teens has been historically difficult, but today we all have a chance to break those patterns by opening up the lines of communication. While I’m not attending a sober college I am living in a sober dorm. Please contact us if your teen is struggling with alcohol or drug dependence and needs treatment in the Los Angeles area.

I am simply overcome with gratitude this week. This week I have five years clean. When I was new, getting five years clean seemed like the most impossible thing, but somehow, it just kind of happened anyway. One night, Visions Adolescent Drug Treatment Center took me to a 12-step meeting, and suddenly staying clean seemed possible. I had been to many meetings before, but this one had something special: my first sponsor. She was speaking that night and said something that I will never forget. She said that she sticks around for the too-skinny, awkward young girls that come to meetings. I thought, “Well, I’m an awkward, too-skinny girl.” For whatever reason, the idea that someone might actually be waiting around to help a girl like me made me feel like I had a chance. It even made me think that if I were to by chance stay clean as an adolescent, I might even get to stick around for the too-skinny awkward girls that come through the door.
Tonight I got to celebrate my five years clean and sober at that meeting. Suddenly, standing in front of everyone there, I was overcome with gratitude and I was hit with the idea that, “Holy crap, I actually stayed clean.” I hated it, but I burst into tears in front of everyone there. I used to cry because I wanted help and felt so incredibly desperate. I cried because I wanted to die. Tonight, I cried because my life is so good and I sometimes can’t believe that I am free from active adolescent addiction. It seemed like such an impossible thing to do when I first walked into teen drug treatment, but by following the suggestions given to me there, I am now able to stick around for all the awkward, too-skinny, drug-addicted adolescent girls from Palo Alto that come into recovery today. If you would like help please click here struggling Teen.

Once again another study has shown that teens that drink before the age of 15 may be setting the stage for alcohol problems later in life. Early alcohol consumption may alter sensitive and still-developing brains, triggering a more powerful response to alcohol. This may be one reason that my drinking was such a bigger deal than a lot of my peers. My drinking began at a very early age and I was immediately inclined to drink as much as possible as often as possible. This led me to lose friends, offers to college, and the relationships I had with my family.
Teen alcohol rehab gave me a chance to stop and really focus on my life. I was really unhappy at first, because I couldn’t imagine a life without my protective veil of drugs and alcohol. Without them, I felt too sensitive and raw. In the safety of adolescent treatment, I was able to process these feelings of vulnerability with a loving and supportive staff and peer group. We began work on issues that I still work on today. I learned there that I wasn’t going to change overnight, but that I could learn to live without the use of drugs and alcohol. I have been on this journey for several years now, and am amazed at the life I have had the ability to create without using and drinking. If you’d told me then that I would be writing a pro-rehab blog, I would have laughed in your face. As time has gone on, I realize how integral that early piece of my recovery truly was. With the strong foundation that I got in treatment, I was able to go back into the world of Los Altos a stronger person- with the emotional tools I needed for success. If you or your teen is struggling with alcohol, Contact us today Visions Adolescent Drug Treatment Center.

MTV premiered Adam Goldstein’s Gone Too Far, a series on teen drug addiction, on October 12. Goldstein, also known as DJ AM, recently died from a drug overdose. The series was shot prior to his relapse, and was a true testament to his desire to help other addicts get clean. The series will focus on DJ AM’s efforts to help eight young drug addicts find recovery.
The death of DJ AM was a shock to everyone in both the entertainment and recovery communities. He had been sober for over 11 years and worked very hard to help others find the gift of recovery. I find it especially moving that despite the tragic end that met DJ AM, his ability to inspire and help others will live on. Perhaps having MTV do this series on recovering young people will inspire others to give this thing a shot. If your teen is struggling with addiction, Contact us today Visions Adolescent Treatment Center is ready to help.

I recently saw something where a doctor was asking if 12-step programs like AA and NA are hip enough for adolescents, which got me to thinking. When I first started going to meetings in teen drug treatment I was concerned with this very question. I certainly didn’t feel like they were very cool at all. It seemed like a lot of old people talking about things I’d never done. What were Quaaludes? I was really focused on the differences and not the similarities. As I stayed in treatment and began to honestly look at the severity and destruction of my drug and alcohol problem, I began to care less about how cool 12 step meetings were, and more about how they could help me.

As I stayed clean though, I realized that I could make my program whatever I needed it to be. When I got out of treatment and went back home to my adolescent outpatient program Santa Monica, I searched for young people’s meetings and decided to get involved. I could go to dances and barbeques. My clean and sober friends and I could be as cool as we wanted without using drugs and alcohol. I decided that it’s pretty cool to go from being dependent on drugs to creating a whole new life. My old idea of cool- like going to raves and partying- was killing me. I might be one of the few young people who prefers hanging out with a bunch of “old” sober people, but my quality of life has changed tremendously. If I decide to stick around and be as hip and cool as I want to be, then maybe my presence will make it easier for the next teenager trying to stay clean. I’m glad that Visions helped me focus on what was important- my life. That’s pretty cool. Please contact us for more information about adolescent drug and alcohol treatment.

A recent study of rats suggests that adolescent drinking leads to poor decision making in adulthood. They needed rats for that? Apparently, alcohol may damage decision making areas of still-growing brains. That makes sense. My still-growing brain made some really damaging decisions when I was drinking and using. Fortunately, I got help. I went to a teen drug and alcohol program that helped me learn how to make decisions for myself. I had to learn to think before I said things, and check out my behavior with others before I acted. I realized, I made a lot of dumb decisions.
The good news, was that I could fix most of it. The first step was to stop drinking and using, and to not do that stuff again. The second part was learning about the patterns in my behaviors and to cease making the same mistakes over and over. That part took a lot more time. I am grateful to know that I stopped the cycle. I left my home in Poway, San Diego to go to adolescent drug treatment so that I didn’t have to let my teen drinking and drug abuse follow me into adulthood. I’m sure I’ll make mistakes in my life- I’m human, but I don’t have to be a slave to drugs and alcohol anymore. As long as I have that going for me, I am at a greater advantage than when I was using. For More info please click here adolescent drug and alcohol treatment.

Columbia University reports that teens who eat dinner with their families less than three times a week are twice as likely to use tobacco or participate in teen marijuana use and are more than one in a half times as likely to drink than teens who eat dinner with their families five or more times per week. Those who have dinner with their families less than three times a week where distractions are present, such as texting and talking on the phone, are more than three times as likely to use marijuana. Those teens who have fewer family dinners are also one and a half times more likely to have friends that use prescription drugs, meth, heroin, cocaine and ecstasy. Also, 12-13 year olds who have infrequent family dinners are more than six times more likely to use marijuana.

In today’s times, it is difficult to imagine getting everyone together for dinner, but the study emphasizes the importance of a specific time set aside for talking and being together. My household was extremely busy growing up. With both parents working and my siblings and me in all kinds of after-school activities, it was a wonder we saw each other at all. Also, with my drug use, getting together with the family was a pretty unpleasant time for everyone. Fortunately, in teen drug rehab, my whole family was able to benefit from treatment. I, of course, was in an intensive inpatient program in Malibu, but my family got to get help too through family counseling in Bakersfield. As we rebuilt our family relationships, we planned on ways to reestablish closeness within our family. We try now to set aside time to be with each other. No cell phones. No facebook. We may not be the Cleavers, but we are slowly rebuilding our family closeness. In drug treatment, I got the help I needed to be a better child, and my family got what they needed so that we can all heal and be the best that we can be. Please click here for more info about adolescent drug and alcohol treatment .

Penn State Freshman Joe Dado died this weekend following a frat party in Philadelphia. He was 18. It appears that a very intoxicated Dado lost his balance in a stairwell on his way home and fell 15 feet to his death. This is a very sad, unnecessary, and unfortunate loss. My thoughts go out to his family and friends. Teen binge drinking is largely looked upon as a rite of passage in this country, but tragedies such as these shine light on the very unfortunate outcomes that can occur. Teen binge drinking is a serious issue, and may lead to more problems down the road. It can be difficult to decipher between “normal” experimentation and problem drinking, but binge drinking may be a red flag indicating bigger underlying problems. The inability to stop drinking once I started was one of the big clues I had a problem. I didn’t drink every day, and could go quite a while without it, but I thought about it all the time. And when I did drink, I always blacked out or came to the next morning with big consequences. Knowing what’s going on in your teen’s life may help parents to keep an eye out for their teen. Teens know they shouldn’t drink and drive, but I know I never considered I might fall to my death when I was drinking. Binge drinking is a serious issue, with potentially deadly consequences. If you think that your teen may have a problem with binge drinking, don’t hesitate to contact us today for adolescent drug and alcohol treatment .

A long Swedish study has concluded that adolescent girls that come from families with parents that attended college and who do well in school themselves are often at greater risk than their peers for developing an adolescent eating disorder. Researchers speculate that the teenage girls may receive more pressure to live up to their families’ high levels of achievement and may have personalities that lend themselves to teen anorexia and bulimia, such as being perfectionists.

High achieving girls are at risk for teen eating disorders because of the immense pressure they tend to put on themselves, and from the perceived pressure they often feel from others. I did very well in school, and even though my family never made me feel pressure to be the best, I decided that they must expect it from me anyway. My warped sense of reality made me feel that the only validation that was worth anything was the validation I saw on paper when I could see my class ranking or GPA. I became increasingly competitive academically and increasingly self destructive in the process. The downside was that as I starved myself into being “perfect”, I lost the ability to focus in school. I was exhausted and unfocused because I never ate anything. The medication I abused helped me lose weight, but it didn’t help me feel better.

The idea of leaving school and going to adolescent treatment seemed like the end of my world. And it kind of was. It helped to end the terrible world I was trapped in and I came out on the other side a stronger person. I had to realign my priorities. No longer could I sacrifice my body and my health for an impossible dream of perfection. I learned to love myself for who I was- not the number on the scale or the grades on the paper. My adolescent eating disorder helped me translate my feelings into a tangible currency- food and weight. As I recovered, I had to learn how to identify feelings rather than translate them into the phrase, “I feel fat.” I quickly learned that fat is not a feeling. Sad is a feeling. Scared is a feeling. Happy is a feeling. Fat isn’t. With the help I received in teen treatment, I was able to find new ways to cope with the pressures of being a student. I learned to set boundaries, and how to take care of myself. Going into treatment was the end of my world. Of that world. whether I live in Santa Monica or San Diego my life today is free from the grip of anorexia. please contact us for adolescent anorexia treatment.

I love watching Bear Grylls in Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel. He is amazing. He makes snow caves and wrestles wild pigs to death and bites through the spines of live fish to survive. He is constantly informing the viewer about the basic survival tools one would need to get by in any situation. While this may be a stretch, it got me thinking about my own survival tools that I learned in teen rehab.
The first thing I need is a good support group. This can include my Visions treatment team, my peers in recovery, my family, and my sponsor. My sponsor is another survival tool I definitely need. Visions helped me find a sponsor when I entered treatment, who is someone that helps me work the 12 steps and was initially my personal introduction to the 12 step fellowships. I call my sponsor daily to check in, a habit I began in teen rehab which I continue to this day. Another tool I can’t live without is my journal. I use writing as a great way to process feelings or to just check in with myself. When I can’t get a hold of anyone, my journal is always there to listen. Along with meetings and activities with my clean and sober peer group, these survival tools are there to help me make it through every day clean. Each one of them was given to me in teen rehab, and I use them on a daily basis years later. It may be weird to say that knowing how to call my sponsor when I need help is the equivalent of knowing how to trap and kill a bird in the middle of the Swiss Alps, but to an addict just out of teen rehab in Palo Alto, it’s the little things that can end up saving your life. For More information about treatment services please click here teen drug rehab.